Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) saw a downside of -1.41% to close Monday at $215.24 after subtracting -$3.08 on the day. The 5-day average trading volume is 7,330,940 shares of the company’s common stock. It has gained $254.03 in the past week and touched a new high 1 time within the past 5 days. An average of 5,554,560 shares of the company has been traded in the last 20 days, and the 50-day average volume stands at 6,452,562.
PANW’s 1-month performance is -13.07% or -$32.35 on its low of $213.30 reached on 08/07/23. The company’s shares have touched a 52-week low of $132.22 and high of $258.88, with the stock’s rally to the 52-week high happening on 07/05/23. YTD, PANW has achieved 54.25% or $75.70 and has reached a new high 40 times. However, the current price is down -16.86% from the 52-week high price.
Insider Transactions
PANW stock investors last saw insider trading activity on Aug 01.ZUK NIR (EVP, Chief Technology Officer) most recently sold 36,000 shares at $251.85 per share on Aug 01. This transaction cost the insider $9,066,538. Chief Accounting Officer, Paul Josh D., sold 250 shares at a price of $249.89 on Aug 01. Then, on Jul 03, EVP, Chief Product Officer Klarich Lee sold 45,000 shares at a price of $254.09 per share. This transaction amounted to $11,433,892.
Valuation Metrics
PANW stock has a beta of 1.21. Moving on to other valuation ratios, the trailing price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is 11.03 while the price-to-book (PB) in the most recent quarter is 53.01, with the price to cash flow ratio at 26.14.
Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s quick ratio for the period ended April 29 was 0.70, with the current ratio over the same period at 0.70. In terms of profitability, the gross margin trailing 12 months is 70.80%. The trailing 12-month EBITDA margin is 2.69% while for the period ending April 29, Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s operating margin was 2.30%. The firm’s gross profit as reported stood at $3.78 billion against revenue of $5.5 billion.
Earnings Surprise
For the quarterly period ending April 29 this year, Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s cash and short-term investments amounted to $1.97 billion against total debt of $3.95 billion. Net income and sales went up compared to those figures reported in the previous quarter. Net income grew 167.9% to $107.8 million, while revenue of $84.2 million was 21.89% off the previous quarter. Analysts expected PANW to announce $0.93 per share in earnings in its latest quarter, but it posted $1.1, representing a 18.30% surprise. EBITDA for the quarter stood at more than $246.2 million. PANW stock balance sheet for the quarter ending April 29 shows that total liabilities totaled 12.94 billion, with total debt at $3.95 billion. Shareholders hold equity totaling $305.86 million.
Let’s look briefly at Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) price momentum from a technical analysis perspective. The 9-day relative strength index as at close on 07 August was 23.28% to suggest the stock is trending oversold, with historical volatility in this time period at 54.22%.
The stock’s 5-day moving average is $232.07, reflecting a -13.89% or -$34.72 change from its current price. PANW is currently trading -13.02% above its 20-day SMA, +16.67% above its 100-day SMA. However, the stock’s current price level is away from the SMA50 by +5.35% and SMA200 by+31.75%.
Stochastic %K and %D was 11.66% and 22.23% and the average true range (ATR) pointed at 8.99. The RSI (14) points at 31.36%, while the 14-day stochastic is at 4.76% with the period’s ATR at 8.31. The stock’s 9-day MACD Oscillator is pointing at -15.11 and -16.84 on the 14-day charts.
Analyst Ratings
In the most recent analyst report for Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: PANW), Wolfe Research reiterated its an Outperform rating for the company but lifted their price target by $210 to $225. Analysts offering their rating for PANW stock have a consensus rating for the stock as Buy. Currently, 0 brokerage advisors rate PANW as a “sell,”, while 5 advise that investors “Hold.” 0 analysts have rated the stock as underweight. 5 rates the stock as overweight while 33 have offered a “buy” rating.
What is PANW’s price target for the next 12 months?
Analysts have a consensus price target ranging from a low of $180.00 and a high of $307.00, with their median price target at $251.00. Looking at these predictions, the average price target given by analysts is for Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) stock is $256.84.
