Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.9% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 1.9% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $334.75 and last traded at $340.28. 4,233,824 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 8,145,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $346.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $371.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $278.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 667.23, a PEG ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,300. The trade was a 20.00% 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, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total value of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at $27,085,821.12. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 472 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $188,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Tenon Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tenon Financial LLC now owns 661 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $725,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.