DA Davidson Cuts Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target to $210.00

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target decreased by DA Davidson from $240.00 to $210.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. DA Davidson currently has a buy rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.97.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $166.95 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.27. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $116.36 billion, a PE ratio of 105.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. The trade was a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term bull case highlighted — several analyst/commentary pieces argue PANW remains a structural growth name in cybersecurity and a smart buy for long-term investors. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company growth deals and product momentum are cited as offsets to recent analyst cuts, reinforcing the view that near-term analyst noise may not derail multi-year growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Q2 preview: Zacks notes PANW is entering Q2 with mid‑teen revenue growth expectations but flags decelerating ARR momentum and a premium valuation — a key focus for the upcoming print. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary: PANW recently dropped more than the broader market in intraday moves, reflecting short-term volatility ahead of earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cuts: JPMorgan lowered its PANW target to $225, and other firms (Rosenblatt, BTIG) trimmed targets (Rosenblatt to $225; BTIG to $200), which reduces near-term upside expectations despite some firms maintaining “buy” ratings. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Deal and listing risk: reports say PANW plans a dual listing on the Tel‑Aviv Stock Exchange after closing the ~$25B CyberArk acquisition — there’s short‑term investor concern about integration complexity and political/geographic exposure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical/reputational risk: Reuters reports PANW opted not to publicly tie China to a recent global hacking campaign it exposed, citing fears of retaliation — this raises potential client, regulatory and reputation considerations. Read More.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.