BTIG Research Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at BTIG Research in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $200.00 price objective on the network technology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 32.46% from the company’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $235.00 to $225.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group set a $215.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Thirty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $150.99 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a 12-month low of $144.15 and a 12-month high of $223.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $179.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.65. The firm has a market cap of $105.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.42, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in 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. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after buying an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Palo Alto Networks News

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.