Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.6% on Insider Selling

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares were down 1.6% on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $275.06 and last traded at $279.90. Approximately 4,972,843 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 9,502,720 shares. The stock had previously closed at $284.54.

Specifically, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 536 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $150,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,704 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,157,120. The trade was a 6.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. Argus lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $222.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Benchmark lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Capital One Financial lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, New Street Research reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.7%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $218.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $227.96 billion, a PE ratio of 229.26, a P/E/G ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% in the third quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 1,056 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% in the third quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the third quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. now owns 4,823 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 4,310 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $878,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the third quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 16,938 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,449,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in 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.