Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 0.7% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price fell 0.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $372.64 and last traded at $373.57. 366,242 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 4,030,816 shares. The stock had previously closed at $376.15.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $374.15.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market cap of $121.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.30, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $347.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $322.01.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $377,373,165.59. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total value of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $377,373,165.59. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,239 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after acquiring an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,000,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $339,183,000 after purchasing an additional 73,922 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.