Strs Ohio Cuts Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Strs Ohio lessened its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 47.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 311,650 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 282,535 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $63,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,016,374 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,174,029 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $3,093,262,000 after purchasing an additional 169,055 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,295,588 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,083,689,000 after buying an additional 377,496 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $916,099,000 after buying an additional 54,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $675,865,000. 79.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Thirty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $229.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total value of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. This trade represents a 28.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 382,016 shares of company stock worth $76,386,460 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 0.4%

PANW stock opened at $182.27 on Friday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The company has a market capitalization of $127.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 115.36, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $189.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.25.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.Palo Alto Networks’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.56 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

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.