Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Receives “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $225.00 price target on the network technology company’s stock. Wedbush’s target price points to a potential upside of 37.61% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Citizens Jmp increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $220.71.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $163.50 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a market cap of $113.96 billion, a PE ratio of 103.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $192.21.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 11.9% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,065,776 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Palo Alto Networks

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 operational beat — Palo Alto reported $1.03 EPS and roughly $2.59B revenue, topping consensus and showing ~15% YoY revenue growth and 33% growth in Next‑Generation Security ARR, supporting the company’s platform momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Raised revenue outlook — Management lifted full‑year revenue guidance to roughly $11.28B–$11.31B (from ~$10.5B prior), which signals stronger top‑line expectations even as margins are pressured. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Product & research cadence — Palo Alto announced new offerings (MSIAM 2.0) and released its Unit 42 report on AI‑driven threats, underscoring product innovation and thought leadership in AI security but with uncertain near‑term financial impact. Article Title Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst tone mixed but constructive — Some sell‑side checks (BTIG, others) stay positive on demand and firewall momentum though price targets have been trimmed amid sector valuation pressure. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Margin/earnings pressure from M&A — Reuters reports Palo Alto trimmed an annual profit forecast citing deal‑related costs to bolster AI capabilities; that comment triggered an after‑hours selloff as investors fretted about near‑term margin dilution. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance reaction — Media coverage noted the fiscal Q3 profit guidance and commentary disappointed some investors despite beats, contributing to the share decline in extended trading. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Acquisition noise — The announcement of an intent to acquire Koi (agentic endpoint focus) drew investor concern about integration and near‑term costs; coverage linked the deal to the volatility. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Price target adjustments — Some analysts trimmed targets (e.g., Mizuho lowered to $205) reflecting valuation risks and near‑term uncertainty even as ratings remain constructive. Article Title

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.