Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 754 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,780 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 754 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $5,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 3.7% during the first quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,443 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth about $2,239,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 174.2% in the first quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 170 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 283,151 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $39,510,000 after buying an additional 22,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wahed Invest LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% in the first quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 3,821 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $763,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.69% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 554 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.59, for a total value of $136,056.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,690 shares in the company, valued at $660,637.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Palo Alto Networks news, Director Aparna Bawa sold 554 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.59, for a total value of $136,056.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,690 shares in the company, valued at $660,637.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.01, for a total transaction of $9,144,360.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,630,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $414,264,400.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 168,140 shares of company stock worth $40,276,328 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.90% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $240.20 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $74.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 190.63, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.19. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52-week low of $132.22 and a 52-week high of $258.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $236.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.65.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 18th. The network technology company reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 51.13% and a net margin of 6.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 7th. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $270.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, August 21st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.71.

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.