Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 2.9% – Here’s Why

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 2.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $361.00 and last traded at $365.01. 755,797 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 3,999,166 shares. The stock had previously closed at $376.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $376.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $370.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 4.0 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $350.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.94. The company has a market capitalization of $117.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.77, for a total transaction of $11,439,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,187,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $377,373,165.59. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 91.0% in the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 1,683 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $79,149,000 after acquiring an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position 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 during the period. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 48.4% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 26,404 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,502,000 after acquiring an additional 8,611 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,244,000 after purchasing an additional 75 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.