Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 834 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,587 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 834 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $3,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PANW. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 113.9% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 77 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 352.6% during the third quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL raised its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 177.4% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 86 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1,111.1% during the 1st quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 109 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Nir Zuk sold 36,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.50, for a total transaction of $11,970,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,115,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $370,926,027.50. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Mary Pat Mccarthy sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.44, for a total transaction of $341,440.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,517 shares in the company, valued at $14,175,564.48. This trade represents a 2.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 255,252 shares of company stock worth $89,383,077. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on PANW. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $400.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.56.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of PANW opened at $387.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.38, a P/E/G ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.12. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $234.15 and a 12-month high of $408.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $359.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.07.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $2.19 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current 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.