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

CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW - Free Report) by 113.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm 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 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

PANW stock traded down $7.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $191.03. 5,451,305 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,377,549. The company has a 50-day moving average of $187.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $182.95. The company has a market capitalization of $126.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.62, a P/E/G ratio of 5.82 and a beta of 1.14. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a twelve month low of $132.50 and a twelve month high of $208.39.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 14.64% and a return on equity of 21.93%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Palo Alto Networks

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nir Zuk sold 336,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.70, for a total transaction of $65,081,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,643,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $705,730,831.62. This represents a 8.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,458,864 shares of company stock worth $269,397,331. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. HSBC cut shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $152.00 to $145.50 in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. KeyCorp boosted their price target 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. JMP Securities boosted their price target 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, StockNews.com lowered shares of Palo Alto Networks from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $202.70.

About Palo Alto Networks

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.