DA Davidson Expects Higher Earnings for Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – DA Davidson upped their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report issued on Thursday, November 21st. DA Davidson analyst R. Kessinger now anticipates that the network technology company will post earnings per share of $3.62 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $3.55. DA Davidson has a “Buy” rating and a $415.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $3.56 per share.

PANW has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $416.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 3.6 %

PANW stock opened at $383.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.63 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 52-week low of $260.09 and a 52-week high of $408.53. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $364.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.39.

Palo Alto Networks’s stock is scheduled to split on the morning of Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. 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 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total transaction of $3,484,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The trade was a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. This represents a 9.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at about $536,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,929,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 1st quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Beck Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 25.6% during the 1st quarter. Beck Capital Management LLC now owns 16,142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,586,000 after purchasing an additional 3,289 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.