Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 9.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares fell 9.6% in Thursday mid-day trading to $314.67, on volume 65% above its daily average.
• The company’s latest quarterly results beat estimates: EPS was $1.02 versus $0.98 expected, while revenue of $3.41 billion topped forecasts and rose 34.5% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with an average price target of $398.55; 39 rate the stock Buy and 11 Hold.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) fell 9.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $312.12 and last traded at $314.67. Approximately 13,249,503 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 65% from the average daily volume of 8,053,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $348.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Northland Securities set a $360.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, August 28th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 9.6%

The stock has a market capitalization of $257.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 617.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business's 50-day moving average is $372.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $272.30.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks's quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh Paul sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $395.70, for a total value of $158,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 77,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,859,455.90. This trade represents a 0.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493,179 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $1,968,304,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc NASDAQ: PANW is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company's portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.

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.