Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.3% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares fell 1.3% to approximately $370.27 in mid-day trading, with volume about 35% below the average session.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $393.02; several firms recently raised their targets to between $384 and $430.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.02 in earnings per share and $3.41 billion in revenue, up 34.5% year over year. Meanwhile, insiders sold approximately $20.8 million of stock during the last quarter.

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) were down 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $361.68 and last traded at $370.27. Approximately 5,322,507 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 8,184,506 shares. The stock had previously closed at $375.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Phillip Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $346.00 in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $410.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $430.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirty-nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $393.02.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.3%

The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $372.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $299.16. The firm has a market cap of $302.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 726.03, a P/E/G ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.93.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. WealthPLAN Partners LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 1,269 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the third quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,851 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.2% during the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 9,803 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,895,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares during the period. Purus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 12.8% in the third quarter. Purus Wealth Management LLC now owns 835 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $332,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the period. Finally, SBE LLC DBA Cedar Cove Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. SBE LLC DBA Cedar Cove Wealth Partners now owns 2,209 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $878,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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