Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Purchased by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 102.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,084 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,327 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $10,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after buying an additional 1,619 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 66,217 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $22,633,000 after buying an additional 8,246 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 791 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 3rd quarter valued at about $222,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock valued at $204,315,811 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on PANW shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim cut 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

PANW stock opened at $189.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $125.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.79, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.12.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. On average, research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS 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.