State of Michigan Retirement System Has $24.55 Million Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 70.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 86,400 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 209,360 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $24,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,569,859 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,129,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,127 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $1,563,020,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,136,547 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $924,905,000 after buying an additional 30,013 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 83.1% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,616,803 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $771,643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29,086.9% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,057,968 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $606,854,000 after acquiring an additional 2,050,917 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total transaction of $67,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,443,916. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.00, for a total value of $67,600.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,982 shares in the company, valued at $8,443,916. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 121,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.60, for a total value of $36,334,289.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,895,983.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 259,857 shares of company stock worth $75,418,399. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. KeyCorp increased their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $355.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Argus boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $336.00 to $348.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Macquarie raised their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.29.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $340.44 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $201.17 and a 1-year high of $380.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.19 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $308.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $307.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 20th. The network technology company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.