Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 1.3% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares fell 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $180.12 and last traded at $182.09. 1,902,878 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 5,916,426 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.42.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $187.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $179.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.95 billion, a PE ratio of 47.60, a P/E/G ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 176,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.04, for a total value of $31,730,609.68. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at $195,596,176.16. This represents a 13.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were 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 owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. The trade was a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PANW. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,656,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,609,486,000 after buying an additional 220,900 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,113,948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,249,594 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,005,161 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $685,364,000 after acquiring an additional 31,595 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.