Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Falls 9.6% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was down 9.6% on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $312.12 and last traded at $314.67. Approximately 13,249,503 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 65% from the average session volume of 8,053,582 shares. The stock had previously closed at $348.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Benchmark lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, August 20th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $525.00 price objective (up from $475.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, October 12th. Thirty-nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $372.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.30. The stock has a market cap of $257.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 617.01, a PEG ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh Paul sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $373.68, for a total transaction of $336,312.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 72,484 shares in the company, valued at $27,085,821.12. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Silver Grove Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Silver Grove Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,289 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 17,307 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,876,000 after purchasing an additional 2,898 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor LLC now owns 4,326 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,719,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Northbridge Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 27.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northbridge Financial Group LLC now owns 2,205 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $926,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn FI LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 941.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn FI LLC now owns 656 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.