Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 0.6% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price was down 0.6% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $185.01 and last traded at $188.27. Approximately 2,044,588 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 7,519,694 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.36.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $210.00 to $217.50 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.40.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $122.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.12 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This trade represents a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 1,186 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 13,325 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,517,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $287,000. Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 22.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 29,521 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $10,008,000 after acquiring an additional 5,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $497,000. 79.82% of the stock is 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.