Guggenheim Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Guggenheim in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports.

PANW has been the subject of several other research reports. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Stephens upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $245.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 target price (down previously from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of 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 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. The company has a 50-day moving average of $179.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $191.65.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 earnings per share. 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted 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 worth $3,568,964,000 after buying an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $340,883,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during 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 during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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.