Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.9% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price fell 1.9% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $334.03 and last traded at $342.15. Approximately 6,717,519 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average daily volume of 9,156,878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $348.66.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price (up from $180.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $297.43 and a 200-day moving average of $215.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 269.03, a P/E/G ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total transaction of $242,795.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Allied Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 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.