State of Alaska Department of Revenue Acquires 2,480 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 7.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,615 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,480 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $12,856,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,118,190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 34,318.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,259,063 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,113,948,000 after buying an additional 3,249,594 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,099,564,000 after acquiring an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after purchasing an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $757,321,000 after acquiring an additional 114,742 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PANW shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $350.00 to $325.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $376.82.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $366.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.26, a P/E/G ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $233.81 and a 52-week high of $384.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $351.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $326.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $323.41, for a total value of $64,682.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,014,746.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total transaction of $30,022,832.14. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 618,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 351,452 shares of company stock worth $118,643,279 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

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.