Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 2.8% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price dropped 2.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $347.68 and last traded at $349.56. Approximately 4,666,602 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 8,684,847 shares. The stock had previously closed at $359.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Loop Capital upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $160.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $265.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 2.8%

The company has a market cap of $284.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 286.52, a PEG ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $334.41 and its 200-day moving average is $239.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.90, for a total transaction of $5,598,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,598,000. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,839 shares of company stock valued at $27,079,580. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,833,462,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,659,100 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,587,100,000 after purchasing an additional 594,789 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,734,973,000 after purchasing an additional 205,123 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,934,935,000 after buying an additional 540,756 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.