Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.9% After Insider Selling

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were down 1.9% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $284.28 and last traded at $285.26. Approximately 4,869,600 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 9,404,181 shares. The stock had previously closed at $290.92.

Specifically, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total value of $1,447,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 345 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.17, for a total transaction of $100,108.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,135,361.03. This trade represents a 4.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Capital One Financial increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $306.59.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $233.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $232.49 billion, a PE ratio of 233.82, a P/E/G ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.94.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.0% in the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,050 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.6% during the first quarter. Lombard Odier Asset Management Europe Ltd now owns 76,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,235,000 after purchasing an additional 4,024 shares in the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% in the first quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 942,520 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $151,105,000 after buying an additional 84,915 shares during the last quarter. First Nebraska Trust Co acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $534,000. Finally, Foguth Wealth Management LLC. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $168,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.