Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.7% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Palo Alto Networks shares fell 1.7% to about $397 during midday trading, with volume roughly 58% below the average session.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive: 38 analysts rate the stock a Buy and 12 a Hold, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus, though the $392.38 average price target is slightly below the current price.
• The company exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, with revenue up 34.5% year over year; however, its extremely high P/E ratio of 778.51 and recent insider selling may concern valuation-focused investors.

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $396.04 and last traded at $397.03. Approximately 3,472,362 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 8,204,282 shares. The stock had previously closed at $403.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $430.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. FBN Securities restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Northland Securities set a $360.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $392.38.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average is $372.02 and its 200 day moving average is $295.90. 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 has a market cap of $324.77 billion, a PE ratio of 778.51, a PEG ratio of 12.05 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. 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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total value of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,085,821.12. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.61, for a total value of $373,610.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,031,317.57. The trade was a 15.54% 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. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 148.1% during the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 201 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. 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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