New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 426,396 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 110.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 813,592 shares of the network technology company’s stock after buying an additional 426,396 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.12% of Palo Alto Networks worth $148,041,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 786,574 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $268,851,000 after purchasing an additional 129,371 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.5% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $36,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares during the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the third quarter valued at $202,000. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.0% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 6,541 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,236,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 2.7% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 6,003 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,052,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at $705,730,831.62. This trade represents a 8.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. The trade was a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PANW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.70.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of PANW stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $208.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $186.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.29. The company has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.34, a PEG ratio of 5.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS 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.