Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 4.6% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 4.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $188.75 and last traded at $192.50. Approximately 5,560,425 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 8% from the average daily volume of 6,053,858 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $195.00 to $212.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $212.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.40.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $186.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted 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 23.36% and a net margin of 32.99%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. This represents a 24.70 % 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 valued at $269,397,331 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by 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.