Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 2.9% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks (PANW) fell 2.9% in Thursday trading, briefly hitting $321.87 before last trading at $325.63, with volume running below average.
• Despite the drop, Wall Street sentiment remains mostly positive: analysts hold a Moderate Buy consensus rating and a consensus price target of $331.48, with several firms recently raising targets as high as $421.
• The company’s latest earnings beat expectations, posting $0.85 EPS on $3 billion in revenue, while revenue rose 31.1% year over year; meanwhile, insiders have been selling shares, including notable sales by directors James J. Goetz and Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 2.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $321.87 and last traded at $325.63. 5,918,787 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 9,121,346 shares. The stock had previously closed at $335.28.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $335.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $421.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.9%

The business's 50 day moving average price is $297.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $265.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 266.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total value of $5,598,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,598,000. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $1,415,364,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 16.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,476,753 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,603,473,000 after buying an additional 3,101,267 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the 4th 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. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1,665.1% in the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,761,909 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $442,788,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 67.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 6,297,833 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,009,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528,299 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.