New York State Common Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 440,216 shares of the network technology company's stock after selling 96,069 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.14% of Palo Alto Networks worth $129,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GSG Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 5,160 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $1,478,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 300 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 4,178 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 148.9% in the 3rd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 189,801 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $44,497,000 after buying an additional 113,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 137,104 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $32,143,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $11.81 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $293.49. 4,057,407 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,531,698. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.30 and a 52-week high of $380.84. The firm has a market cap of $94.83 billion, a PE ratio of 45.47, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $291.51.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 30.24% and a return on equity of 36.58%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on PANW. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $363.00 to $337.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $325.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $345.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $314.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,327,194.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,867 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $523,002.71. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 25,812 shares in the company, valued at $7,230,715.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.33, for a total transaction of $17,059,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares of the company's stock, valued at $56,327,194.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.