State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 179,600 shares of the network technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $30,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Crew Capital Management Ltd. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 2,310 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 322 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 3,067 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 18,983 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $3,239,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $221.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $223.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $205.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Stephens lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.00.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 6.8%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $192.07 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $195.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 109.75, a PEG ratio of 5.75 and a beta of 0.97. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.28 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business's revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.27, for a total value of $22,858,894.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 293,010 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,458,002.70. This represents a 29.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total value of $19,866,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $644,356,888.56. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. 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 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks 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.

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