New York State Teachers Retirement System Cuts Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 527,621 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 37,239 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of Palo Alto Networks worth $90,033,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth approximately $548,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 106.4% during the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 2,378 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 94.3% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 11,661 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $2,122,000 after acquiring an additional 5,658 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 108.1% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 21,354 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $3,886,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 10.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,125 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,410,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.36, for a total transaction of $19,336,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 3,343,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $646,502,253.76. The trade was a 2.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.05, for a total value of $160,840.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 42,033 shares in the company, valued at $8,450,734.65. This trade represents a 1.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 668,722 shares of company stock valued at $121,714,798 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Stephens lowered Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $130.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock traded up $4.53 on Thursday, hitting $201.50. 2,561,725 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,385,172. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.14, a P/E/G ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 0.97. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $192.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $185.45. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $142.01 and a one year high of $208.39.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 19.48%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.