Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Invests $42,000 in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 143 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 37.2% in the 4th quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 107 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 233 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 1,519 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 1,061 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 206 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

NASDAQ PANW opened at $291.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.93 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s fifty day moving average is $287.61 and its 200 day moving average is $292.10. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.30 and a fifty-two week high of $380.84.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The network technology company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 36.58% and a net margin of 30.24%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PANW. Wedbush raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $378.00 to $327.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $350.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $314.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $294,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,247 shares in the company, valued at $7,629,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.03, for a total value of $15,436,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 198,105 shares in the company, valued at $67,955,958.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 167,917 shares of company stock worth $49,395,553 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

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.