Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 3.7% – Here’s Why

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares were down 3.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $323.85 and last traded at $325.91. 4,602,039 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 9,318,959 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Capital One Financial boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $168.00 to $248.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $220.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. HSBC upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.65.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $265.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 267.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $274.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.64.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total transaction of $310,500.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at $42,058,590. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at $368,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $222,000. Whitener Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the second quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,312 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,199,000 after buying an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. Tema ETFs LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 10.3% in the second quarter. Tema ETFs LLC now owns 13,985 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,769,000 after buying an additional 1,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth approximately $304,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.