Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases 17,019 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 95.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 34,778 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,019 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter worth about $29,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 2,933.3% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 91 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock opened at $187.54 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $132.50 and a 1-year high of $208.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $186.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.00. The company has a market capitalization of $124.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 105.66, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This trade represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $190.00 target price (down from $207.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

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.