Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $365.00 to $360.00. The stock had previously closed at $323.77, but opened at $301.16. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks shares last traded at $306.79, with a volume of 4,642,746 shares changing hands.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $335.00 to $364.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Capital One Financial cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $302.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lowered Palo Alto Networks from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $350.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $274.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $318.03.

Insider Activity

In other 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 owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total transaction of $36,334,289.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,895,983.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 280,193 shares of company stock worth $80,670,132. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PANW. GSG Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,478,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Spirit of America Management Corp NY boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 112,040 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $33,038,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,726 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,291,000 after purchasing an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the 4th quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,325 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $99.44 billion, a PE ratio of 48.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $288.20 and its 200-day moving average is $298.52.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

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.