Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 44.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,053 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 20,176 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $8,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 3.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,572,098 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $8,118,190,000 after buying an additional 1,002,239 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,243,457 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,099,564,000 after buying an additional 255,060 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 7.6% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,814,881 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $799,792,000 after buying an additional 198,078 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,233,918 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $757,321,000 after purchasing an additional 114,742 shares during the period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.0% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,000,511 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $339,183,000 after purchasing an additional 73,922 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 66,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.98, for a total value of $22,865,104.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 639,994 shares in the company, valued at approximately $219,505,142.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.98, for a total transaction of $20,698,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,854,924.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 359,732 shares of company stock worth $118,815,557 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $332.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $108.14 billion, a PE ratio of 48.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.87 and a beta of 1.13. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $230.09 and a 52 week high of $380.84. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $316.36.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.19 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $364.00 to $399.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $350.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $369.26.

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.