Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 1.8% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $376.52 and last traded at $378.21. Approximately 545,901 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 3,892,365 shares. The stock had previously closed at $385.18.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.1 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $355.13 and a 200-day moving average of $332.47. The company has a market cap of $127.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.99, a P/E/G ratio of 5.59 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total value of $20,698,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,854,924.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 255,252 shares of company stock valued at $89,383,077. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 14.2% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 655,853 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $224,171,000 after purchasing an additional 81,324 shares during the last quarter. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 26.6% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 7,449 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after purchasing an additional 1,567 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 74.1% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 68,954 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $23,568,000 after acquiring an additional 29,356 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 10,465 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.