Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $8.62 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,524 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,452 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,382,116 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $2,611,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,725,148 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,427,062 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,533,419,000 after acquiring an additional 3,841,359 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 133.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,842,647 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,427,048,000 after purchasing an additional 4,486,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,277,739 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,324,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,631 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $195.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $130.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.97. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $195.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $186.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.01 and a 52-week high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during 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 last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 526 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.00, for a total transaction of $99,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 8,632 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,640,080. This represents a 5.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.66, for a total transaction of $19,866,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,243,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $644,356,888.56. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 569,248 shares of company stock valued at $111,279,829. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $213.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC upgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $225.00 price objective on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and twenty-seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $209.16.

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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