Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $25.32 Million Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 97.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,167 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 68,679 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $25,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 82.1% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,345,740 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $244,871,000 after purchasing an additional 606,778 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,883 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $707,000 after buying an additional 934 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 103.0% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 97,351 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $17,714,000 after buying an additional 49,391 shares during the last quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 96.8% in the 4th quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI now owns 3,070 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Finally, Trinity Legacy Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 107.5% during the fourth quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 26,672 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,853,000 after acquiring an additional 13,819 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

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

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $184.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $186.41 and its 200-day moving average is $185.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $121.83 billion, a PE ratio of 103.67, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $132.50 and a fifty-two week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. As a group, analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $425.00 to $213.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.