Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 2% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) were down 2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $316.70 and last traded at $317.32. 5,126,081 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 9,056,118 shares. The stock had previously closed at $323.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $209.00 to $253.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $325.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Argus set a $425.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued 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 price target of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $255.78 billion, a PE ratio of 257.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.78 and a beta of 0.91. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $303.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $219.63.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. 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, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,045,721.30. This trade represents a 10.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock valued at $27,174,360. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Trust Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Asset Management LLC now owns 8,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,946,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $368,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $222,000. Whitener Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,199,000 after buying an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tema ETFs LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 13,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,769,000 after buying an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.