Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Down 0.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) shares dropped 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after KeyCorp lowered their price target on the stock from $240.00 to $205.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Palo Alto Networks traded as low as $170.47 and last traded at $173.30. Approximately 771,512 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 5,873,855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.55.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Loop Capital reduced 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 note on Tuesday, January 14th. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. JMP Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $586,132,981.56. This represents a 2.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 99,707 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value 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 $65,353,042.65. This represents a 21.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock worth $181,925,602. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Palo Alto Networks

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 64,737 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $22,127,000 after buying an additional 5,133 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 10.7% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 2,606 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $891,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,528 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,915,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sfmg LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 16,836 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $5,754,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 1.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $111.03 billion, a PE ratio of 94.47, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $180.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $184.71.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share 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.