Research Analysts Offer Predictions for PANW Q2 Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Equities researchers at William Blair increased their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for shares of 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 previous forecast 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) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $222.50 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $189.36 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.31. Palo Alto Networks has a one year low of $130.04 and a one year high of $207.24. The company has a market capitalization of $124.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% during the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the third quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.25, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 2,231,134 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 571,172 shares of company stock worth $107,074,352. Corporate insiders own 2.50% 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.