Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 3.8% – What’s Next?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $114.00 to $207.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Benchmark increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $300.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have issued a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $335.81 and a 200 day moving average of $240.90. The firm has a market cap of $291.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 293.34, a PEG ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $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 anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,477,180. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Aparna Bawa sold 290 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.74, for a total value of $101,134.60. Following the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Palo Alto Networks

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,833,462,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,929,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $12,512,533,000 after buying an additional 2,659,100 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,331,705 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,587,100,000 after acquiring an additional 594,789 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,681,876 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $7,734,973,000 after acquiring an additional 205,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,989,257 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,934,935,000 after acquiring an additional 540,756 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.