Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.8%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) dropped 1.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $284.00 and last traded at $285.75. Approximately 1,098,038 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 5,314,573 shares. The stock had previously closed at $290.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PANW. Piper Sandler cut Palo Alto Networks from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Citigroup increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Wedbush increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $350.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $293.00. The firm has a market cap of $92.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total value of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 122,917 shares of company stock valued at $33,959,203 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Family Wealth Inc. now owns 2,463 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the fourth quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 204 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parisi Gray Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.