Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 0.4% on Analyst Downgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 0.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $455.00 to $230.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as low as $182.67 and last traded at $183.41. Approximately 588,266 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 7,440,502 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.20.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $197.50 to $207.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $188.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 11.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $79,149,000 after buying an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $24,414,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the third quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.9 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.91 and a 200 day moving average of $177.38. The firm has a market cap of $119.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.77, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

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

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.