Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Falls 3.5% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) dropped 3.5% on Thursday. The company traded as low as $367.50 and last traded at $380.57. 7,332,265 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 8,073,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $394.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on PANW. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $201.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $371.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $268.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 746.23, a PEG ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 72,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,085,821.12. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total transaction of $10,769,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,750 shares in the company, valued at $46,110,900. The trade was a 18.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,610,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,179 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 205,123 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,993,802,000 after acquiring an additional 706,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,036,648,000 after acquiring an additional 273,103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.