Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Decreases Stock Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc reduced its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 311,284 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 28,656 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned approximately 0.10% of Palo Alto Networks worth $105,528,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $336,000. InterOcean Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, FineMark National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 5,557 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,639,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW opened at $340.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $336.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $110.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $224.64 and a 12 month high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 26.83% and a net margin of 32.11%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $300.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.08.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at $47,055,533.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $339.12, for a total transaction of $500,202.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total value of $17,755,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567. 3.30% of the stock is owned by 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.