CIBC Asset Management Inc Acquires 151,671 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 113.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 285,535 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 151,671 shares during the quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $51,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,156,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $24,414,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 50.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,147,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,075,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050,173 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 961,000 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $328,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 40,173 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $13,731,000 after purchasing an additional 5,250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 4.1 %

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $208.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a PE ratio of 54.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.04 and a twelve month high of $208.35. The company has a 50 day moving average of $186.84 and a 200-day moving average of $182.29.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.99% and a return on equity of 23.36%. Equities analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Northland Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $185.00 target price (up previously from $175.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Westpark Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $196.40 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $165.00 to $192.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. JMP Securities raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.70.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,694,210.72. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 490,723 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.45, for a total transaction of $89,532,411.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $198,214,409.80. This represents a 31.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,458,864 shares of company stock valued at $269,397,331 over the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Palo Alto Networks 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.