Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 2% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was down 2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $328.64 and last traded at $335.28. 6,248,643 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 9,143,839 shares. The stock had previously closed at $342.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Northland Securities raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.9%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $299.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.83. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $265.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 266.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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. Equities analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total value of $2,094,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.