Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 3% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) fell 3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $380.85 and last traded at $384.27. Approximately 4,217,213 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 8,771,661 shares. The stock had previously closed at $396.00.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $345.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $339.61.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $313.18 billion, a PE ratio of 314.98, a PEG ratio of 12.99 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $325.77 and its 200 day moving average is $234.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. 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. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AFT Forsyth & Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,603,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,968,304,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $256,985,000. Kelly Lawrence W & Associates Inc. CA purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $22,119,000. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,794,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.