BMO Capital Markets Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $230.00 to $200.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 32.46% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. HSBC cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $248.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $150.99 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $144.15 and a 52-week high of $223.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $179.46 and its 200 day moving average is $191.65. The firm has a market cap of $105.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.42, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The company had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $340,883,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat expectations—revenue grew ~15% and ARR/RPO metrics point to ongoing subscription momentum; revenue guidance was raised, supporting longer‑term growth thesis. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat and other commentary frame the pullback as a “buy‑the‑dip” opportunity given a strong balance sheet, high institutional ownership and the company’s platform positioning in cybersecurity. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Palo Alto announced an offer to purchase CyberArk convertible notes as part of closing the CyberArk acquisition—a financing/cleanup step that facilitates the deal but also highlights the scale of transaction activity. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto is buying Koi to bolster AI/agentic endpoint security—adds product capabilities that could drive medium‑term ARR expansion. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts cut price targets and flagged margin pressure from deal/integration costs—HSBC sharply cut its PT to $114, and multiple firms trimmed targets, fueling downward pressure on the stock. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Company trimmed FY profit outlook citing higher integration and deal costs (CyberArk and other acquisitions); coverage highlights this as the main reason for the sell‑off. Read More. and Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual options activity—traders bought ~174,264 put options (≈399% above average put volume), suggesting elevated hedging or bearish positioning into the post‑earnings period.
• Negative Sentiment: Short‑term price action shows sizable intraday declines and commentary that the strong earnings were “priced in,” amplifying selling after guidance/profit warnings. Read More.

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.