Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.9% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were down 1.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $334.03 and last traded at $342.15. Approximately 6,717,519 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 9,156,878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $348.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $340.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $320.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $292.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $213.62. The firm has a market cap of $278.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 280.45, a P/E/G ratio of 13.32 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John P. Key sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.24, for a total transaction of $2,094,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,490,500. This trade represents a 37.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total transaction of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 81,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 196.2% during the 4th quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC now owns 154 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.