Key Points
- Insider sale: EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 PANW shares for approximately $10.8 million, reducing his position by 18.93% to 117,750 shares.
- Strong operating results: Palo Alto Networks reported quarterly EPS of $1.02 versus the $0.98 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $3.41 billion, up 34.5% year over year.
- Analyst sentiment remains positive: Thirty-eight analysts rate the stock a Buy and 12 rate it a Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $390.47, despite PANW’s elevated valuation.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) Director Aparna Bawa sold 260 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $392.69, for a total value of $102,099.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,677 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,836,611.13. This trade represents a 5.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.
Aparna Bawa also recently made the following trade(s):
- On Tuesday, September 15th, Aparna Bawa sold 500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $377.18, for a total transaction of $188,590.00.
- On Monday, September 14th, Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00.
- On Wednesday, July 1st, Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total transaction of $101,134.60.
Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.6%
PANW stock opened at $392.09 on Tuesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $398.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $356.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $279.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $320.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 768.82, a P/E/G ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.91.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares during the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. FBN Securities restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 17th. Thirty-eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $390.47.
View Our Latest Analysis on PANW
Palo Alto Networks News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:
- Positive Sentiment: BTIG raises price target: BTIG Research upgraded its PANW price target from $404 to $425 while maintaining a “buy” rating, implying approximately 8.4% upside from the referenced $392.09 price. The recommendation signals confidence in Palo Alto Networks’ growth outlook. Palo Alto Networks Stock Price Expected to Rise, BTIG Research Analyst Says
- Positive Sentiment: AI security opportunity: Palo Alto Networks launched Unit 42 Continuous Frontier AI Defense, a subscription service using Anthropic, OpenAI and open-weight models to continuously identify, validate and remediate vulnerabilities across applications, APIs and cloud infrastructure. The product could strengthen the company’s position as enterprises adopt AI and face new security threats. The AI Security Opportunity Emerging for Palo Alto Networks
- Negative Sentiment: Executives sell shares: EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares for approximately $10.8 million, reducing his holdings by 18.93%. Director Aparna Bawa also sold 260 shares for about $102,000. While insider sales do not necessarily indicate deteriorating fundamentals, the transactions can create a modest negative signal, particularly with PANW trading at an elevated valuation. SEC Insider Trading Filing
- Negative Sentiment: Customer-financing credit risk: Net financing receivables declined to $1.536 billion from $1.717 billion year over year, but balances in the weakest credit-risk categories rose to $43 million from $18 million. The deterioration among weaker credits raises concerns about potential collection losses and could offset some of the company’s growth momentum. Palo Alto Networks Lets Customers Pay Later. Is Credit Risk Rising?
About Palo Alto Networks
(
Get Free Report)
Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.
The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.
Recommended Stories
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from InsiderTrades.com in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
