Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price traded down 1.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $376.52 and last traded at $378.21. 545,901 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 3,892,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $385.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $126.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $353.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.32.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,115,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 928 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $317,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,074.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,607 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,385 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,220 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 118.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC now owns 8,184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,797,000 after buying an additional 4,431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $328,470,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.