Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Issues Q1 Earnings Guidance

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) updated its first quarter earnings guidance on Monday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.47-1.49 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.42. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.10-2.13 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.10 billion. Palo Alto Networks also updated its FY25 guidance to $6.18-6.31 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of PANW stock traded up $9.25 on Monday, hitting $343.36. The company had a trading volume of 4,910,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,368,668. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $224.64 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $111.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $326.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $310.65.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Westpark Capital restated a hold rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Argus increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $365.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $333.59.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,292,166.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 367,315 shares of company stock valued at $118,696,590. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.