Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Raises Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 33.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 76,369 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,206 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $15,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC grew its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total transaction of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at $8,502,184.05. The trade was a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 261,248 shares of company stock worth $53,316,149 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $189.02 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $193.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $196.15. The company has a market capitalization of $131.75 billion, a PE ratio of 119.63, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.15 and a 1 year high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.56 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $232.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $227.99.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: PANW) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2005 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California. The firm develops a broad suite of security products and services designed to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect enterprise networks, clouds, and endpoints. Built around a platform strategy, its offerings target threat prevention, detection, response and governance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

The company’s product portfolio includes next‑generation firewalls as a core on‑premises capability, alongside cloud‑delivered security services and software for securing public and private clouds.