Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Falls 1.7% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares fell 1.7% to $398.50 in midday trading, with volume 47% below the average.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: 38 analysts rate the stock a Buy and 12 a Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $391.32.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in EPS versus $0.98 expected and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year; insiders have sold about $20.7 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) fell 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $395.80 and last traded at $398.50. 4,394,883 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 8,268,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $405.57.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on PANW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. DA Davidson increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley set a $410.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (up from $420.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Thirty-eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $391.32.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company's 50 day moving average price is $367.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $325.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 781.39, a PEG ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,110,900. This trade represents a 18.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,960 shares of company stock valued at $20,719,959. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $104,774,000 after buying an additional 29,230 shares in the last quarter. B&D White Capital Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.

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