Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 3.4% - Here's What Happened

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s stock price fell 3.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $185.43 and last traded at $186.32. 1,601,127 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 6,006,536 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $208.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.85.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $121.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $187.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.74.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The company had revenue of $2.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,744,323.20. This trade represents a 24.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 867,734 shares of company stock valued at $161,546,523 over the last three months. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 16.4% in the third quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 231,566 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $79,149,000 after acquiring an additional 32,626 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter valued at $24,414,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 196,700 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $67,232,000 after acquiring an additional 7,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company's stock.

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.