Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.3% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) fell 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $185.62 and last traded at $187.73. 6,688,670 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 6,230,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $190.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $225.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.0%

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $206.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $197.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 104.91, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.94, for a total value of $26,321,485.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 356,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,675,777.46. This trade represents a 25.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.19, for a total value of $1,020,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 96,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,629,805.65. This represents a 4.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,095,056 shares of company stock valued at $226,082,942 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Klingman & Associates LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,131 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,742 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mattern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $345,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. St. Clair Advisors LLC now owns 15,800 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,233,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.1% in the second quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 2,467 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 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.