Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $394.49, but opened at $368.83. Palo Alto Networks shares last traded at $373.2590, with a volume of 2,493,029 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Northland Securities set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $253.00 to $351.00 in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $346.00 in a research report on Monday, September 7th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Argus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 4.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $309.71 billion, a PE ratio of 740.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s fifty day moving average is $371.40 and its 200-day moving average is $268.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $412.28, for a total value of $103,070.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,825,163.56. The trade was a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curry Webb Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.