Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Releases Q2 Earnings Guidance

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.54-1.56 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $1.55. The company issued revenue guidance of $2.22-2.25 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.23 billion. Palo Alto Networks also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 6.260-6.390 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $391.92.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $4.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $392.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,808,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,840,526. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $361.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $338.02. The company has a market cap of $127.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 12 month low of $258.17 and a 12 month high of $408.53.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,041,637. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by 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.