Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 7.6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) dropped 7.6% during trading on Friday. The stock traded as low as $339.55 and last traded at $342.00. 8,748,244 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 8,188,638 shares. The stock had previously closed at $370.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $404.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $335.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $393.02.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average is $372.66 and its 200 day moving average is $301.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $279.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 670.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.93.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 27,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $391.60, for a total value of $10,769,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 117,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,110,900. This represents a 18.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 148.1% during the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 201 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.