Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 60.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,532 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,970 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $6,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PANW. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 140 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 246.3% in the fourth quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 142 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Abound Wealth Management grew its position in Palo Alto Networks by 97.3% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Palo Alto Networks by 265.0% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 102.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 156 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of PANW stock opened at $189.55 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $132.50 and a 12-month high of $208.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $186.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $184.12. The company has a market cap of $125.50 billion, a PE ratio of 106.79, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $192.50 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Northland Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $193.50 to $224.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.06.

Insider Activity

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.70, for a total transaction of $21,564,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 365,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,744,323.20. The trade was a 24.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total transaction of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.