Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 476 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,987 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 476 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 17.3% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 16,844 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $5,710,000 after purchasing an additional 2,484 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 72.2% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 30,418 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,312,000 after acquiring an additional 12,753 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 8.3% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,602 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $882,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 5,882 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after acquiring an additional 925 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $706,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.49, for a total value of $3,484,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 31,517 shares in the company, valued at $10,983,359.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total transaction of $22,865,104.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $219,505,142.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 464,075 shares of company stock worth $154,029,567 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $340.12 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $224.64 and a 12-month high of $380.84. The company has a market cap of $110.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.44, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $336.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $313.18.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on PANW shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $360.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.08.

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.