Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 2.2% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was down 2.2% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $372.30 and last traded at $375.76. Approximately 5,075,975 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 8,756,302 shares. The stock had previously closed at $384.27.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.56.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $304.92 billion, a PE ratio of 306.67, a PEG ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average of $332.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,500. The trade was a 37.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 100,839 shares of company stock worth $27,079,580 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,833,462,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $1,415,364,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,968,304,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,569,755,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,481,236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next?generation firewalls as a core on?premises capability, alongside cloud?delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.