Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 0.4% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) traded down 0.4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $171.19 and last traded at $172.16. 1,705,782 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 5,815,635 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Guggenheim lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.29.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a market cap of $113.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.45.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $195,596,176.16. The trade was a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523 over the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $174,124,000. Finally, Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.