Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 4.2% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares were down 4.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $380.75 and last traded at $381.08. Approximately 1,419,727 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 63% from the average daily volume of 3,847,320 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and cut their price target for the company from $304.00 to $291.00 in a report on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.03.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $364.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $339.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks are going to split before the market opens on Monday, December 16th. The 2-1 split was announced on Wednesday, November 20th. The newly minted shares will be payable to shareholders after the closing bell on Friday, December 13th.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.08. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. The trade was a 9.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total value of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,252 shares of company stock worth $89,041,637 in the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% in the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.