Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 3.1% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price traded down 3.1% on Monday . The company traded as low as $167.19 and last traded at $167.98. 1,628,469 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 5,789,064 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Guggenheim cut 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 research report on Monday, January 6th. OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.29.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $191.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74, a P/E/G ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total value of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. 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 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 99.1% during the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 272,195 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $49,529,000 after buying an additional 135,483 shares in the last quarter. Persium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at about $496,000. Claro Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 112.2% during the 4th quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 10,425 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,897,000 after buying an additional 5,512 shares during the period. Abound Wealth Management grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 99.6% during the fourth quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,359 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.