Analysts Issue Forecasts for PANW FY2025 Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Cantor Fitzgerald issued their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Palo Alto Networks in a research report issued on Tuesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst expects that the network technology company will post earnings per share of $1.74 for the year. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Overweight” rating and a $222.50 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $1.74 per share.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $187.70 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $123.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.88, a PEG ratio of 5.37 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks has a 52 week low of $130.04 and a 52 week high of $207.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,414,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $67,232,000 after buying an additional 7,291 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $199,159,581.28. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.