Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 3.2%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 3.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $281.62 and last traded at $284.45. 971,636 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 5,439,369 shares. The stock had previously closed at $293.82.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $405.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $94.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.53, a PEG ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $287.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. First Pacific Financial increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 421.7% during the third quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 120 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% during the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.