Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 3.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report)'s share price fell 3.1% on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $215.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as low as $165.88 and last traded at $167.32. 1,528,578 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 5,891,579 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.76.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on PANW. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $180.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.27.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $18,191,542.15. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total transaction of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 5,658 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $244,871,000 after acquiring an additional 606,778 shares during the last quarter. Mosley Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 116.2% in the 4th quarter. Mosley Wealth Management now owns 3,023 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 1,625 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 934 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.4 %

The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $187.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.48. The stock has a market cap of $113.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.51, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 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.