Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.4% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price dropped 1.4% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $184.10 and last traded at $184.20. Approximately 3,121,166 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 6,144,786 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Mizuho set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Thirty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.20.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $128.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 116.58, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $198.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $196.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total transaction of $23,177,738.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 327,645 shares in the company, valued at $62,878,351.95. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 381,222 shares of company stock valued at $78,762,727 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $675,865,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $633,068,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282,738 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.