Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 3.9% on Analyst Downgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 3.9% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $425.00 to $213.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as low as $193.25 and last traded at $193.49. Approximately 649,149 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 7,526,109 shares. The stock had previously closed at $201.24.

PANW has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $195.00 to $215.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $222.50 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.40.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 163,172 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,237,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 11.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 571,172 shares of company stock valued at $107,074,352. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after acquiring an additional 220,900 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,249,594 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after purchasing an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $191.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.31. The company has a market capitalization of $124.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 1.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.