Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.9% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares fell 1.9% to $350.90 in Monday trading, with volume about 46% below the average daily level.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $364; several firms recently raised targets as high as $434.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.85 versus the $0.79 consensus and revenue of $3 billion, up 31.1% year over year. Insiders sold $10.8 million of stock during the last quarter, while institutional investors own 79.82% of shares.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) traded down 1.9% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $347.05 and last traded at $350.90. Approximately 4,674,908 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 8,638,106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $357.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on PANW shares. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $434.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $364.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $285.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 287.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $337.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 145,250 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,898 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 37,935 shares of company stock valued at $10,809,461 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 35,252.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 417,760,413 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $142,464,656,000 after buying an additional 416,578,710 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,833,462,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $12,512,533,000 after acquiring an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.

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