Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 3.9% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price fell 3.9% on Monday. The stock traded as low as $350.39 and last traded at $351.72. Approximately 6,636,358 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 18% from the average session volume of 8,064,768 shares. The stock had previously closed at $365.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $410.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $400.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $372.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $269.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $287.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 689.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.96.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The company’s revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $2,159,000. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 240,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $95,366,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 126.6% in the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 18,600 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,390,000 after buying an additional 10,392 shares during the period. Finally, Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 31.5% in the first quarter. Evelyn Partners Investment Management Services Ltd now owns 14,641 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,347,000 after acquiring an additional 3,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.