Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 4.2% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price fell 4.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $156.14 and last traded at $157.21. 7,040,042 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 10,665,944 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Argus raised shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $127.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.39, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $165.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $188.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 144,252 shares of company stock worth $26,947,635. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Steph & Co. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.