Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 3.8% – Should You Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 3.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $351.46 and last traded at $359.76. 5,263,393 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 8,710,141 shares. The stock had previously closed at $374.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on PANW. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. FBN Securities reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. New Street Research set a $415.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $360.89.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $332.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 294.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $3 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. 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. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 62,904 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $258.65, for a total transaction of $16,270,119.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 235,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $61,037,002.95. This trade represents a 21.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.08, for a total value of $313,588.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 81,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,272,790.88. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 100,839 shares of company stock worth $27,079,580. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Knuff & Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 73.8% in the 4th 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. Finally, N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.