Phillip Securities Downgrades Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) to Hold

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) was downgraded by investment analysts at Phillip Securities from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on PANW. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Citizens Jmp boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Stephens set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $385.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.1%

PANW opened at $336.98 on Monday. Palo Alto Networks has a twelve month low of $139.57 and a twelve month high of $398.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $350.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $257.94. The company has a market cap of $274.64 billion, a PE ratio of 660.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%.The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,258 shares of company stock worth $11,050,673. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after buying an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after acquiring an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% during the 1st quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides security products and services to businesses, governments and other organizations worldwide. The company helps customers protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, applications and connected devices from cyber threats.

Its portfolio includes next-generation firewalls and network security technologies, as well as cloud-delivered security solutions such as Prisma Access and Prisma Cloud. Palo Alto Networks also offers Cortex products for endpoint protection, security operations, threat detection and response, and automation.