New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 818,592 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.12% of Palo Alto Networks worth $139,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. now owns 150 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded up $3.33 on Monday, reaching $190.72. 5,044,685 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,418,049. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39. The company has a market cap of $127.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 108.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.23 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.73.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total transaction of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 42,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,450,734.65. This represents a 1.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 293,010 shares in the company, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. The trade was a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829 in the last quarter. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $235.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $223.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.00.

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.