Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 4.2% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was down 4.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $159.72 and last traded at $160.65. Approximately 1,005,781 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 5,839,499 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $455.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Stephens started coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $205.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $205.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $104.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.18, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $180.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.98.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total value of $16,541,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.13, for a total value of $18,252,574.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 321,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $48,629,704.62. This represents a 27.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $548,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,886,000 after buying an additional 11,095 shares during the period. National Pension Service lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% during the fourth quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.