DA Davidson Has Pessimistic Outlook of PANW FY2025 Earnings

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) – Research analysts at DA Davidson lowered their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, December 17th. DA Davidson analyst R. Kessinger now expects that the network technology company will earn $1.74 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $1.75. The consensus estimate for Palo Alto Networks’ current full-year earnings is $3.49 per share.

PANW has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $217.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $205.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $186.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $122.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $207.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $191.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake 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 stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 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.