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

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) fell 1.9% during trading on Tuesday. The stock 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 daily volume of 8,145,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $346.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $371.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.36. The stock has a market cap of $278.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 667.23, a P/E/G ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,031,317.57. This trade represents a 15.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. South Shore Capital Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $226,000. 55 North Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% during the third quarter. 55 North Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,455 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Inc. bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $200,000. Boyd Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth approximately $434,000. Finally, Kenora Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.9% in the third quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 12,762 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,070,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.