Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $230.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Roth Capital started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $210.00 price objective for the company. Twenty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.86.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 3.1%

PANW stock opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $191.31 and a 200 day moving average of $186.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.06 billion, a PE ratio of 113.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.94. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $144.15 and a 52 week high of $210.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 18.55%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. Q1 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.900 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.80, for a total transaction of $17,280,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,143,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,199,564.80. The trade was a 3.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 669,248 shares of company stock worth $126,423,337. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.