FY2026 EPS Estimate for Palo Alto Networks Raised by Analyst

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Investment analysts at Scotiabank boosted their FY2026 earnings estimates for shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, February 19th. Scotiabank analyst P. Colville now expects that the network technology company will post earnings of $2.14 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $2.09. Scotiabank currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $1.76 per share.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on PANW. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $148.70 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $178.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $191.78. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The stock has a market cap of $121.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.75.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. PTM Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions 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 dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto announced the planned acquisition of Koi, a startup focused on agentic endpoint security — a strategic move to plug AI-related security gaps and expand its AI/security platform footprint. Palo Alto Networks (PANW) to Acquire Koi
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto filed an offer relating to CyberArk’s convertible notes tied to its CyberArk acquisition, signaling active balance-sheet management as it closes recent M&A. This helps reassure investors that integration and financing steps are being executed. Palo Alto Networks Announces Offer to Purchase Relating to CyberArk Software Ltd.’s Notes
• Positive Sentiment: Recent quarter showed revenue and EPS roughly in line-to-slightly-better-than expectations and management raised revenue guidance at the low end, supporting the case for durable topline growth driven by platform and subscription momentum. (Company releases and analyst coverage)
• Neutral Sentiment: Several firms reiterated Outperform/Buy ratings (e.g., Citizens JMP, Wedbush, RBC, Rosenblatt) — indicating pockets of institutional confidence even as some analysts trimmed estimates.
• Negative Sentiment: A cluster of analyst downgrades and price-target cuts hit PANW, driving headline selling and raising near-term skepticism about margin recovery amid integration costs. See coverage of the downgrade-driven selloff. Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 6.8% on Analyst Downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: Susquehanna cut its price target (and multiple banks including Goldman, HSBC, Mizuho, BMO and others issued more pessimistic forecasts or lowered targets), amplifying pressure on the stock’s near-term outlook. Susquehanna Lowers Palo Alto Networks Price Target to $200.00
• Negative Sentiment: HSBC notably cut its target to $114, highlighting the range of analyst views and contributing to sentiment-driven selling. HSBC Adjusts Price Target on Palo Alto Networks to $114
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option buying and elevated volume/gap-down trading indicate traders are positioned for further near-term weakness; this increases volatility and can exacerbate downward moves until clarity on integration costs and margin recovery arrives.

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.