Cibc World Market Inc. Sells 32,720 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cibc World Market Inc. reduced its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 10.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 289,109 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 32,720 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $58,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter valued at about $675,865,000. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter worth about $340,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $13,100,311,000 after buying an additional 1,240,830 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 97.9% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,104,939 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $430,755,000 after buying an additional 1,041,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3,881.4% during the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 721,157 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $146,842,000 after buying an additional 703,044 shares during the last quarter. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Mizuho set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $212.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $227.36.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $165.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $115.36 billion, a PE ratio of 104.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.75. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $144.15 and a one year high of $223.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $184.12 and a 200 day moving average of $192.93.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 17.05% and a net margin of 11.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 12,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.33, for a total transaction of $2,441,625.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 75,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,685,690.72. The trade was a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total transaction of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 155,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,542 shares of company stock worth $49,910,995. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks Profile

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.