Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Falls 5.5% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price traded down 5.5% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $370.50 and last traded at $375.04. Approximately 6,845,154 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 16% from the average daily volume of 8,197,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on PANW. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $326.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $320.00 to $346.00 in a research note on Monday, September 7th. Truist Financial set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-eight have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $393.02.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 7.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $280.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 670.64, a P/E/G ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $373.10 and its 200-day moving average is $300.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the sale, the director owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,760,300. This represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total transaction of $7,533,600.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock valued at $20,823,029 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at about $25,833,462,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,979,497 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $12,610,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,493,179 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,778,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,993,802,000 after purchasing an additional 706,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,466,118 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,036,648,000 after buying an additional 273,103 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc is a cybersecurity company that provides solutions designed to help organizations protect networks, endpoints, cloud environments, applications and users from cyber threats. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud-delivered security services, secure access service edge (SASE) solutions, endpoint protection and security operations tools.

The company also provides platforms and services for cloud security, threat intelligence, incident response, vulnerability management and the automation of security operations.