Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 9.3% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 9.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $321.39 and last traded at $328.48. Approximately 13,156,795 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 53% from the average session volume of 8,602,636 shares. The stock had previously closed at $362.09.

Key Palo Alto Networks News

Here are the key news stories impacting Palo Alto Networks this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rose 34.5% year over year to $3.41 billion, exceeding the $3.35 billion consensus estimate. Adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share also topped expectations of $0.98. Reuters earnings and acquisition article
• Positive Sentiment: Next-generation security annual recurring revenue increased 63% to $9.1 billion, including nearly $1 billion in net new ARR. Management attributed demand to rising AI-related cyber threats and accelerating customer adoption of its security platform. Proactive Investors PANW article
• Positive Sentiment: Fiscal 2027 revenue guidance of $14.1 billion to $14.2 billion implies roughly 23% to 24% growth and is above Wall Street expectations. First-quarter guidance also exceeded consensus estimates. Wall Street Journal PANW outlook article
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts raised their price targets following the report, including Citigroup to $410, DA Davidson to $420, RBC to $475 and Susquehanna to $415, while maintaining positive ratings.
• Positive Sentiment: Palo Alto Networks also acquired Console, an AI-native platform intended to strengthen agentic security workflows and broaden its AI capabilities. Palo Alto Networks Console acquisition
• Neutral Sentiment: Management said approximately $1 trillion of existing cybersecurity infrastructure may need modernization to address AI-driven attacks, highlighting a potentially lengthy growth runway for the industry. CNBC AI cybersecurity infrastructure article
• Negative Sentiment: The stock’s decline reflects a valuation reset and profit-taking after a substantial prior rally. Analysts characterized the reaction as a repricing of PANW’s premium multiple, with investors demanding stronger upside than the already elevated expectations implied. Cybersecurity peers also traded lower, reinforcing a broader software-sector risk-off tone. 247WallSt valuation article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Stephens set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial set a $400.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “sector outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $384.37.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 9.3%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company’s 50-day moving average is $347.96 and its 200 day moving average is $251.94. The company has a market cap of $267.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 269.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company 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 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. 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. Research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,735 shares of company stock worth $10,814,266. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $142,464,656,000 after acquiring an additional 416,578,710 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after buying an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after purchasing an additional 540,756 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.