Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Price Target Lowered to $200.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) had its price target decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $225.00 to $200.00 in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other reports. 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 report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Evercore lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Thirty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $212.51.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $150.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.42, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $179.46 and a 200-day moving average price 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after buying an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 14,282 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,923,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 53,632 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,975,000 after acquiring an additional 3,030 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto beat Q2 estimates and raised revenue guidance, showing ongoing ARR and platform momentum — a fundamental reason bulls cite to buy the dip. PANW Q2 earnings beat
• Positive Sentiment: Several firms (Rosenblatt, Wedbush, Citizens JMP, RBC) reaffirmed Buy/Outperform ratings or high price targets, providing counterweight to the negative headlines. Rosenblatt reaffirms Buy Wedbush Outperform Citizens JMP
• Neutral Sentiment: Palo Alto announced an offer to purchase certain CyberArk convertible notes tied to its acquisition — a financing/cleanup step that helps integration but is unlikely to move the stock dramatically by itself. PR Newswire: offer to purchase CyberArk notes
• Neutral Sentiment: Guggenheim and some shops reiterated neutral/hold ratings — steady analyst coverage that suggests disagreement about timing of margin recovery. Guggenheim reaffirms Neutral
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple major shops cut price targets (Goldman, Deutsche, JPMorgan, Susquehanna, Stifel, Needham, BMO, Scotiabank, HSBC — the latter to $114), and several issued more cautious notes emphasizing integration costs and lowered EPS outlooks; that coordinated repricing is pressuring the stock. Goldman pessimistic forecast HSBC cuts to $114
• Negative Sentiment: Press coverage (Reuters, CNBC) flagged a profit‑forecast cut and higher integration costs tied to the CyberArk and other deals — media amplification of margin concerns has intensified selling pressure. Reuters: deal costs pile up CNBC: CEO defends strategy as shares sink
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put option buying (≈174k puts, +399% vs typical) and several analyst downgrades/notes reporting a gap‑down indicate elevated short‑term bearish sentiment and hedging activity. (Options flow report, Feb. 19)
• Negative Sentiment: Headline pieces reporting the stock down on analyst downgrades and price‑target cuts have reinforced selling momentum. Analyst downgrade coverage

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.