Weekly Research Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Palo Alto Networks (PANW)

Posted by Alanna Baker on Dec 26th, 2024

Several analysts have recently updated their ratings and price targets for Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW):

12/24/2024 – Palo Alto Networks was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating.
12/19/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $225.00 to $240.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
12/17/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $425.00 to $213.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
12/16/2024 – Palo Alto Networks was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating.
11/22/2024 – Palo Alto Networks was downgraded by analysts at HSBC Holdings plc from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating. They now have a $145.50 price target on the stock, down previously from $152.00.
11/22/2024 – Palo Alto Networks was downgraded by analysts at Hsbc Global Res from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Susquehanna from $210.00 to $217.50. They now have a “positive” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They now have a $222.50 price target on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $208.00 to $225.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $212.50 to $217.50. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc.. They now have a $225.00 price target on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada. They now have a $225.00 price target on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $195.00 to $212.50. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Piper Sandler from $165.00 to $192.50. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $200.00 to $215.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Northland Securities. They now have a $185.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $175.00.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at JMP Securities from $190.00 to $207.50. They now have a “market outperform” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Westpark Capital.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $197.50 to $207.50. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at TD Cowen from $200.00 to $210.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at BTIG Research from $197.50 to $207.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $197.50 to $216.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $192.50 to $225.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/21/2024 – Palo Alto Networks was upgraded by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating. They now have a $215.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $195.00.
11/19/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $200.00 to $225.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/18/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $193.50 to $224.50. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
11/18/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Evercore ISI from $197.50 to $227.50. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
11/18/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $172.50 to $195.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
11/18/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Truist Financial Co. from $200.00 to $212.50. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/15/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $192.50 to $212.50. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
11/14/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $192.50 to $220.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
11/11/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its price target raised by analysts at Barclays PLC from $205.00 to $212.50. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
11/7/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “negative” rating reaffirmed by analysts at OTR Global.
11/4/2024 – Palo Alto Networks had its “market outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at JMP Securities. They now have a $190.00 price target on the stock.
11/1/2024 – Palo Alto Networks was upgraded by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald to a “strong-buy” rating.
10/31/2024 – Palo Alto Networks is now covered by analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald. They set an “overweight” rating and a $207.50 price target on the stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW traded down $0.84 during trading on Thursday, hitting $188.67. 1,667,070 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,502,699. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $192.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.64. The company has a market cap of $123.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.04 and a 1 year high of $207.24.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after purchasing an additional 220,900 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.