William Blair Issues Optimistic Estimate for PANW Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) - Investment analysts at William Blair raised their Q2 2025 earnings per share estimates for Palo Alto Networks in a report issued on Tuesday, December 17th. William Blair analyst J. Ho now anticipates that the network technology company will post earnings of $0.42 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.42. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks' current full-year earnings is $3.49 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Palo Alto Networks' Q3 2025 earnings at $0.38 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.49 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $1.73 EPS and Q2 2026 earnings at $0.52 EPS.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $227.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of PANW stock traded down $2.58 on Friday, reaching $186.78. The stock had a trading volume of 13,331,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,566,424. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $130.04 and a 12 month high of $207.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $122.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50-day moving average is $191.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 2,231,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in 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 increased its holdings 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 worth $79,149,000 after purchasing an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. 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 boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,075,718,000 after buying an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.