Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Acquired by State of Tennessee Department of Treasury

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 129.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 220,232 shares of the network technology company's stock after buying an additional 124,200 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $40,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 141 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 906 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 172 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company's stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW traded up $7.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $176.04. 4,016,386 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,826,151. The business's 50 day moving average is $177.93 and its 200-day moving average is $184.64. The company has a market capitalization of $116.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.18, a P/E/G ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.07. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.81 and a 1 year high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on PANW shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Guggenheim downgraded Palo Alto Networks from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $130.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 6th. HSBC raised shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $156.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating and issued a $196.40 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.06.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total value of $89,532,411.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at $198,214,409.80. This trade represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.41, for a total transaction of $16,541,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,543,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at $586,132,981.56. This trade represents a 2.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,039,318 shares of company stock valued at $181,925,602. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

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.