Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 1.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $179.70 and last traded at $180.18. 5,768,750 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 6,275,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $182.27.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $236.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $229.09.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $125.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $189.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company’s revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,190,293.42. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.