CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. Makes New Investment in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 116,601 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,742,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PANW. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 32,155 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $6,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,301 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the third quarter valued at $75,412,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 134.1% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 672,129 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $136,859,000 after buying an additional 384,985 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,364,442 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $277,828,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 240.1% in the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 11,732 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after buying an additional 8,282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $168.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $137.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.32, a PEG ratio of 6.11 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $168.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.06. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12-month low of $139.57 and a 12-month high of $223.61.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 12.96%.The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.03, for a total transaction of $23,070,311.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 298,887 shares in the company, valued at $57,096,383.61. The trade was a 28.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total transaction of $3,729,476.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,631,525. This represents a 30.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 149,252 shares of company stock worth $27,888,535 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PANW. HSBC lowered their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $157.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Mizuho set a $200.00 target price on Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $265.00 price target (up from $230.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Monday, January 5th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $190.00 to $160.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.19.

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.