Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul Sells 900 Shares of Stock

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.77, for a total transaction of $318,393.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 73,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,950,444.58. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 12.8%

PANW stock traded up $43.54 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $382.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,286,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,586,413. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $139.57 and a 52-week high of $398.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 313.81, a PEG ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $341.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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 analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $350.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Truist Financial set a $435.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $365.87.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 1st 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 lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in 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 acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.