Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 0.5%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) dropped 0.5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $325.15 and last traded at $329.74. Approximately 470,930 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 4,378,283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $331.48.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Redburn Atlantic lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. DA Davidson started coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, June 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $380.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.44.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $107.07 billion, a PE ratio of 47.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $322.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $310.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total transaction of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,292,166.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 322 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $99,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,167,770. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,621 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.92, for a total value of $497,517.32. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 20,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,292,166.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 367,315 shares of company stock valued at $118,696,590 in the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,563,020,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after buying an additional 1,187,915 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,129,800,000 after buying an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 359.3% in the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 957,699 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $282,406,000 after buying an additional 749,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $177,933,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.