Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Jumps 7.2% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded up 7.2% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as high as $381.49 and last traded at $380.55. 6,557,509 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 19% from the average session volume of 8,119,665 shares. The stock had previously closed at $354.92.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $346.00 in a report on Monday, September 7th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Yorkville Ives began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, October 5th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Thirty-nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 7.2%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $369.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $307.28. The firm has a market cap of $311.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 746.19, a P/E/G ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 77,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,859,455.90. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $25,833,462,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,569,755,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $1,481,236,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.