Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 0.8% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price dropped 0.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $191.82 and last traded at $193.88. Approximately 1,009,639 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 5,725,364 shares. The stock had previously closed at $195.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on PANW. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, HSBC lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.77.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $128.92 billion, a PE ratio of 51.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s fifty day moving average is $186.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.17.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $11,142,122,000 after acquiring an additional 31,281,359 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth $970,736,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after buying an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.