Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Purchases 5,927 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 13.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,183 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,927 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $19,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PANW. Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 632 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. MBA Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. MBA Advisors LLC now owns 1,840 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 472 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riversedge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,285 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Key sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.03, for a total transaction of $940,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,300. This trade represents a 20.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 20,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.68, for a total value of $7,533,600.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,210 shares of company stock worth $20,823,029. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $334.47 on Thursday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $139.57 and a 12 month high of $432.33. The stock has a market cap of $273.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 655.84, a PEG ratio of 9.36 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $367.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $275.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 1st. The network technology company reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $3.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 2.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.160-4.190 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $371.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Capital One Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $421.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Thirty-nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.55.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. is a cybersecurity company that provides products and services to help organizations protect their networks, cloud environments, devices and applications. Its offerings include next-generation firewalls, cloud security tools, secure access services and platforms for detecting and responding to cyber threats. The company’s product portfolio includes Prisma for cloud and network security and Cortex for security operations, including threat detection and response. It also provides cybersecurity consulting and incident-response services through Unit 42.