William Blair Issues Positive Estimate for PANW Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Investment analysts at William Blair increased 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 forecasts that the network technology company will earn $0.42 per share for the quarter, up from their previous 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) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $186.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $191.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.58. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $130.04 and a fifty-two week high of $207.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $122.57 billion, a PE ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 72,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 2,231,134 shares in the company, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352 in the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.