Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Up 2.2% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price rose 2.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $145.36 and last traded at $144.84. Approximately 11,108,893 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 11,977,537 shares. The stock had previously closed at $141.67.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Sharp decline in short interest — Short interest fell ~50.8% to 22,768,366 shares as of Feb. 13 (about 2.8% of shares short) and a short-interest ratio of ~1.3 days based on average volume, reducing a potential short squeeze overhang and removing downward pressure from heavy short positions.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/consensus view remains constructive — PANW still carries an overall “Moderate Buy” analyst consensus, supporting medium-term demand from institutional buyers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Media pieces highlight PANW’s AI/security strategy as a potential turnaround thesis — Commentary argues PANW’s investments in AI-driven security could improve long-term growth despite recent pullbacks; this is supportive but speculative. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive positioning under review — Coverage comparing CrowdStrike’s acquisition push with Palo Alto’s platform approach underscores that PANW remains a core cybersecurity play but faces execution/strategy comparisons that may influence investor preference. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst price-target cut — Daiwa lowered its PT from $212 to $175 (still an “outperform”), signaling more conservative near-term expectations and reducing upside in some investor models. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Questions on organic growth and EPS dilution — Analysis points to normalizing organic growth and an EPS miss on a per-share basis driven by share dilution, which can temper near-term margin/growth expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile commentary—Jim Cramer discussed PANW after earnings; such coverage can boost retail interest but is not a fundamental catalyst on its own. Read More.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PANW. UBS Group set a $183.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Evercore lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $224.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.62.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $118.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.02, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $176.86 and a 200-day moving average of $191.43.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion during 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%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. 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. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,415,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,375,486 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,568,964,000 after buying an additional 2,065,776 shares in the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $340,883,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.