Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.9% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was down 1.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $334.75 and last traded at $340.28. Approximately 4,233,824 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 8,145,192 shares. The stock had previously closed at $346.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PANW shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Arete Research boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $185.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Stephens set a $400.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 2.0%

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $370.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $305.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $284.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 680.90, a PEG ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total transaction of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares in the company, valued at $30,859,455.90. This represents a 0.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% in the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 148.1% during the first quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 201 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.