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

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $1.54-1.56 for the period, compared to the consensus 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Hsbc Global Res lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $395.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $383.36 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $364.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $339.39. The company has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a PEG ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a 1-year low of $260.09 and a 1-year high of $408.53.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are going to split on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The business had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. This represents a 24.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 over the last ninety days. 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.