Arizona State Retirement System Sells 4,025 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Arizona State Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 190,704 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 4,025 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $35,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 147.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,031 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 169.1% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $948,000 after acquiring an additional 3,275 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 66.3% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,484 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,389 shares in the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 560 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 4,398 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $900,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PANW. DA Davidson set a $190.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Mizuho set a $200.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.07.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $173.21 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $161.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $182.53. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61. The firm has a market cap of $141.34 billion, a PE ratio of 95.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 0.77.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $802,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 150,250 shares in the company, valued at $24,103,105. This trade represents a 3.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John P. Key sold 1,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.32, for a total value of $272,459.04. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,466,400. This trade represents a 7.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 30,356 shares of company stock worth $4,981,575. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.