Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Trading Down 1.4% – Time to Sell?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)’s share price dropped 1.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $194.67 and last traded at $196.08. Approximately 1,502,985 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 6,245,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $198.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on 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, OTR Global reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $126.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.85, a PEG ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $187.20 and a 200 day moving average of $182.95.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $18,191,542.15. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 358,197 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth $77,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 98.0% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 85,437 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $15,546,000 after acquiring an additional 42,277 shares during the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 3,456 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760 shares during the last quarter. Peak Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $930,000. Finally, Wormser Freres Gestion lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 217.6% during the 4th quarter. Wormser Freres Gestion now owns 1,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.