Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 2.8% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares were down 2.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $348.36 and last traded at $348.66. Approximately 5,418,702 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 9,181,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $358.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. FBN Securities reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Capital One Financial set a $421.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Berenberg Bank raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $415.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $387.00 price objective (up from $320.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $331.48.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $295.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $214.74. The stock has a market cap of $273.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 274.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.95 and a beta of 0.91.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 7.95% and a return on equity of 10.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Helle Thorning-Schmidt sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $346.85, for a total value of $242,795.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,898 shares in the company, valued at $2,045,721.30. The trade was a 10.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the sale, the director owned 6,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,244,839.38. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,239 shares of company stock worth $27,174,360. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allied Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Steph & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the fourth quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.