Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 1.3% on Analyst Upgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shot up 1.3% on Friday after Capital One Financial upgraded the stock from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating. Capital One Financial now has a $421.00 price target on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as high as $368.80 and last traded at $358.68. Approximately 7,659,341 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 9,208,247 shares. The stock had previously closed at $353.99.

A number of other research firms have also commented on PANW. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $340.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $327.74.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at $23,272,790.88. The trade was a 1.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares in the company, valued at $61,037,002.95. The trade was a 21.05% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% during the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $442,788,000 after buying an additional 2,605,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 67.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 6,297,833 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,009,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528,299 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $292.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 294.00, a P/E/G ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $290.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current year.

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.