Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Down 3.5% – Here’s What Happened

Posted by Stanley Muller on Oct 31st, 2026

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) traded down 3.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $367.50 and last traded at $380.57. Approximately 7,332,265 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 9% from the average daily volume of 8,073,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $394.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $434.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Argus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Wedbush began coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Friday, September 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $400.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 target price (up from $410.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.55.

Get Our Latest Report on Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 3.9%

The firm has a market cap of $299.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 717.41, a P/E/G ratio of 10.92 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company’s 50-day moving average is $372.15 and its 200-day moving average is $269.89.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $3.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 2.67% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 34.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, Director James Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total value of $940,075.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Solstein Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter worth $31,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Principia Wealth Advisory LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 125.0% during the second quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 81 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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Palo Alto Networks, Inc (NASDAQ:PANW) is a global cybersecurity company that helps organizations protect networks, cloud environments, endpoints, and digital infrastructure. Its offerings are designed to prevent cyberattacks, identify security risks, monitor activity, and support incident response across enterprise, government, and service-provider environments.

The company’s portfolio includes network security products such as next-generation firewalls and security operations tools; Prisma, its cloud security platform; and Cortex, a suite focused on endpoint protection, threat detection, security analytics, and automated response.