Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.9% – What’s Next?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) dropped 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $182.27 and last traded at $184.06. Approximately 7,153,519 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 15% from the average daily volume of 6,242,094 shares. The stock had previously closed at $187.66.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. DA Davidson set a $240.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, December 19th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, UBS Group set a $215.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.9%

The company has a market cap of $128.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.49, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $190.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.56.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This trade represents a 3.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 382,016 shares of company stock valued at $76,386,460. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $340,883,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,467,692 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $502,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282,738 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% in the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,145 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.