Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) dropped 0.4% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $171.19 and last traded at $172.16. Approximately 1,705,782 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 5,815,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. OTR Global restated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.29.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $191.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $178.23. The stock has a market cap of $113.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.52, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 867,734 shares of company stock worth $161,546,523. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 397.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 11,722 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,972,000 after purchasing an additional 9,366 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5,450.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 222 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 33.8% in the second quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $159,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.9% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 574,529 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $194,771,000 after purchasing an additional 31,782 shares during the period. 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.