Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Bought by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,463 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. Webster Bank N. A. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 607.1% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 87.0% in the 4th quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 101 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 136 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% during the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 25,812 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.24, for a total value of $10,376,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,295,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $373,434,232.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total transaction of $523,002.71. Following the sale, the president now 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 158,917 shares of company stock worth $44,335,843. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock traded up $4.36 on Monday, reaching $300.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,883,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,265,240. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $186.75 and a twelve month high of $380.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $285.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $294.03. The company has a market cap of $97.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.96, a PEG ratio of 4.03 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Northland Securities cut Palo Alto Networks from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.