State of Alaska Department of Revenue Sells 2,840 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,610 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 2,840 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $14,581,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 8.5% in the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,390 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,912,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. Asset Planning Inc raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Planning Inc now owns 300 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. G&S Capital LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 1.6% during the third quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 3,261 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 14,115 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,874,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elk River Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Elk River Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,384 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $10,666,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. HSBC lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $157.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Northland Securities lifted their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.99.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $190.80 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $194.46 and its 200 day moving average is $196.25. The stock has a market cap of $132.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.76. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $147,848.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This trade represents a 1.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total value of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% 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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.