Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.7% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 1.7% on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $396.04 and last traded at $397.03. Approximately 3,472,362 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 8,204,282 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.38.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $324.77 billion, a PE ratio of 778.51, a P/E/G ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $372.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $295.90.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total transaction of $373,610.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,031,317.57. This represents a 15.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heffernan Advisory Inc. raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 101.7% during the 3rd quarter. Heffernan Advisory Inc. now owns 1,210 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Kieckhefer Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth $228,000. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.4% in the third quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,204 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 108,772 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $43,346,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth about $359,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.