Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $24.16 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 71,274 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,684 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $24,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,200.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 99 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 106 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $416.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Northland Securities upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.49.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,443,596.77. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, President William D. Jenkins, Jr. sold 1,475 shares of Palo Alto Networks 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 completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 19,026 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,452,097.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $293.31, for a total transaction of $10,559,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,259,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,443,596.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 366,372 shares of company stock valued at $118,440,693. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:PANW traded up $1.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $350.75. 3,506,656 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,430,739. The company has a market capitalization of $113.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $224.64 and a 12 month high of $380.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $330.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $311.49.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 32.74% and a net margin of 31.42%. The company’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.