Short Interest in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Drops By 50.8%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of February. As of February 13th, there was short interest totaling 22,768,366 shares, a decline of 50.8% from the January 29th total of 46,289,607 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,339,422 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Currently, 2.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,339,422 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 260,542 shares of company stock valued at $49,910,995 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $75,412,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $277,828,000 after acquiring an additional 8,344 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after acquiring an additional 8,282 shares during the period. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,248.9% during the third quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 10,899 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 10,091 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $148.92. The stock had a trading volume of 9,425,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,661,981. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $190.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.52 billion, a PE ratio of 82.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks has a fifty-two week low of $139.57 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm’s revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.650-3.700 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.780-0.800 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several recent research reports. New Street Research reduced their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.62.

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.