Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.4% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) fell 1.4% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $202.77 and last traded at $205.45. 1,150,984 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 6,276,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $208.28.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, OTR Global reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.9 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $187.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.95. The company has a market cap of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.62, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Tradewinds LLC. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 2,315 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $791,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 348 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Geneva Partners LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geneva Partners LLC now owns 10,945 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,741,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klingman & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.2% during the third quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is 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.