Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 0.2% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price was down 0.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $372.06 and last traded at $372.30. Approximately 223,387 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 95% from the average daily volume of 4,061,753 shares. The stock had previously closed at $373.20.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $366.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $390.00 to $421.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.28.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $121.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.11, a PEG ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.13. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $342.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $320.00.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at $219,505,142.12. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 269,866 shares of company stock valued at $88,620,447. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter valued at approximately $177,933,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 444,100.0% during the second quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 444,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $150,520,000 after purchasing an additional 444,100 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

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.