Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 3.5% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares fell 3.5% on Monday . The company traded as low as $173.11 and last traded at $174.61. 1,355,519 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 5,925,232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $186.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $184.81. The company has a market capitalization of $115.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.93, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’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 approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total transaction 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 approximately $195,596,176.16. This trade represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% during the 4th quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period. 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.