Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 3% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was down 3% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $380.85 and last traded at $384.27. Approximately 4,217,213 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 8,771,661 shares. The stock had previously closed at $396.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Stephens boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $180.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $320.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $339.61.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.0%

The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $328.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $235.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 314.98, a P/E/G ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. 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. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was 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 owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. This trade represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,045,721.30. This represents a 10.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.