Needham & Company LLC Has Lowered Expectations for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $230.00 to $200.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 32.46% from the company’s previous close.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Truist Financial set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Thirty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $179.46 and a 200-day moving average of $191.65. The stock has a market cap of $105.24 billion, a PE ratio of 83.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% 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 valued at $49,910,995 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the third quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the third quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,088 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key 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.