Cibc World Market Inc. Invests $68.34 Million in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 200,411 shares of the network technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,344,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 15.0% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 410,401 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $65,796,000 after purchasing an additional 53,485 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 568,804 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $104,774,000 after purchasing an additional 29,230 shares during the period. B&D White Capital Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the first quarter valued at about $353,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,159,000. Finally, Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 43.6% in the first quarter. Granite Islands Private Wealth LLC now owns 15,342 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,453,000 after buying an additional 4,659 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PANW. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $340.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Argus set a $425.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $275.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $362.67.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PANW opened at $358.04 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $291.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.48, a P/E/G ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 1-year low of $139.57 and a 1-year high of $398.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $337.38 and its 200 day moving average is $242.19.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, June 2nd. The network technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.94 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 10.53% and a net margin of 7.95%.Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Palo Alto Networks has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.770-3.790 EPS and its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.960-0.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 900 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.00, for a total value of $310,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 79,644 shares in the company, valued at $27,477,180. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dipak Golechha sold 5,000 shares of Palo Alto Networks stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.56, for a total transaction of $1,447,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 145,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,058,590. The trade was a 3.33% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 37,935 shares of company stock worth $10,809,461. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.