Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 1.5%

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) dropped 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $273.70 and last traded at $274.85. Approximately 955,120 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 5,650,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $279.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Capital One Financial downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 1.1 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $300.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $290.27. The firm has a market cap of $88.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.97, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock valued at $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. RB Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 19.9% during the first quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $375,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $6,910,000. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.7% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 2,822 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.6% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 1,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $963,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter worth $1,022,000. 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.