TLDR
- Arete double upgraded PANW from Sell to Buy on March 3, setting a $185 price target, saying structural deceleration fears are overdone
- Wells Fargo initiated coverage with an Overweight rating and $200 price target on March 2, calling the pullback a “favorable entry point”
- PANW reported Q2 EPS of $1.03, beating the $0.94 estimate, with revenue of $2.59 billion — up 14.9% year-over-year
- Siemens announced a joint verified cybersecurity solution with PANW for industrial private 5G networks on March 5
- PANW unveiled four new collaborations at Mobile World Congress 2026, including deals with Nokia, U Mobile, Aeris, and Celerway
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) has had a busy week of analyst upgrades, new partnerships, and fresh institutional interest — and the stock is still trading well below its one-year high of $223.61.
PANW opened at $165.05 on Friday, against a 52-week low of $139.57. The stock’s 200-day moving average sits at $190.15, putting the current price noticeably below that level.
Palo Alto Networks, Inc., PANW
The biggest analyst move came from Arete on March 3. The firm double upgraded PANW — going straight from Sell to Buy — and raised its price target from $150 to $185. Arete said the market was pricing in too much structural deceleration, arguing that agentic AI is actually expanding the attack surface rather than shrinking cybersecurity budgets.
That’s a notable reversal from a firm that was previously bearish on the stock.
Wells Fargo piled on the same day, initiating coverage with an Overweight rating and a $200 price target. The bank said the recent pullback created a good entry point, and flagged PANW’s exposure to nearly every major trend in cybersecurity right now.
Analyst Targets Remain Above Current Price
The consensus among analysts sits at a $210.19 average price target, with 34 Buy ratings, 2 Strong Buys, and 9 Hold ratings. Earlier upgrades from Morgan Stanley ($223 target) and Goldman Sachs ($224 target) show a wide spread of expectations — but most are pointing well above where the stock trades today.
Evercore had the most bullish recent call, raising its target to $250 in November and rating it Outperform. Citigroup and Guggenheim are more cautious, with Citi at $210 and Guggenheim holding a Neutral stance.
On the earnings front, PANW reported Q2 EPS of $1.03 versus the $0.94 analyst estimate — a beat of $0.09. Revenue came in at $2.59 billion, up 14.9% year-over-year and slightly ahead of the $2.58 billion consensus.
The company guided for full-year FY2026 EPS of $3.65–$3.70, with Q3 2026 EPS guidance of $0.78–$0.80.
New Industrial and 5G Security Deals
On the partnership side, March has been active. On March 5, Siemens announced a verified cybersecurity solution for industrial private 5G networks built with PANW’s next-generation firewall. The architecture was tested at Siemens’ Digital Connectivity Lab in Erlangen, Germany, and is certified against IEC 62443 industrial security standards.
The setup pairs Siemens’ private 5G infrastructure with PANW’s Layer 7 firewall for deep packet inspection of OT protocols — with low latency maintained for real-time industrial operations.
Earlier, at Mobile World Congress 2026 on March 2, PANW announced four new collaborations: Nokia, U Mobile, Aeris, and Celerway. The deals are focused on securing the autonomous edge and enabling sovereign AI deployments.
Rathbones Group PLC raised its PANW position by 1.1% in Q3, bringing its stake to 868,983 shares worth roughly $176.9 million. Institutional investors now hold approximately 79.82% of the company.
Insider selling has continued — EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares at $191.03 on January 8, reducing his position by 28.78%. Total insider selling over the past 90 days reached 139,068 shares valued at $26.6 million.
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