Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Purchases New Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 5,543 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 163.9% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 950 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 15,721 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,636,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter valued at $730,000. Finally, Harbor Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $294,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,629,160. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,230,715.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on PANW shares. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $290.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Loop Capital lowered Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.9 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $291.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $176.30 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $287.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.10.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.