Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Has Average Price Target of $398.55 According to Analysts

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirty-nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $398.55.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, October 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,968,304,000. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.4%

PANW stock opened at $350.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $372.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.49. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $286.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 170.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.