Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 13.1% – Still a Buy?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was up 13.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $378.60 and last traded at $373.94. 11,833,580 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 39% from the average session volume of 8,510,453 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PANW. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $400.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $387.60.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 13.1%

The company has a market cap of $305.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 733.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $349.25 and a 200-day moving average of $261.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 9,667 shares of company stock valued at $3,058,443 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $142,464,656,000 after purchasing an additional 416,578,710 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after buying an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.