Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price fell 1.5% during trading on Thursday after Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on the stock from $250.00 to $225.00. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as low as $157.81 and last traded at $162.81. 19,615,860 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 95% from the average session volume of 10,036,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.30.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $223.97.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

More Palo Alto Networks News

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.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 12,111 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $345,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.5%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.27. The company has a market cap of $116.36 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.