CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Lowers Stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC cut its holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 1.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 979,731 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 13,245 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $199,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,269,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $13,290,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,589 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,736,916 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $6,055,031,000 after acquiring an additional 505,924 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Palo Alto Networks by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,528,248 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,532,902,000 after acquiring an additional 36,511 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 5,906,963 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,202,776,000 after purchasing an additional 611,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,476,638 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $916,099,000 after purchasing an additional 54,601 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $220.00 price target on Palo Alto Networks and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Truist Financial set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. New Street Research cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $240.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $169.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 93.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.78. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 52 week low of $139.57 and a 52 week high of $223.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $169.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.20.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In other Palo Alto Networks news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.18, for a total value of $940,900.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 155,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,190,293.42. The trade was 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 90 days, insiders have sold 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.