Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 0.8% – Here’s What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s stock price was down 0.8% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $176.20 and last traded at $177.90. Approximately 936,200 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,989,494 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PANW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $212.50 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.71. The company has a market cap of $119.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total value of $21,564,000.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Copia Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. IronOak Wealth LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,562,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. TFR Capital LLC. acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at $2,173,000. Finally, Plotkin Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 155.9% during the 4th quarter. Plotkin Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,280 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter. 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.