Cim Investment Management Inc. Acquires 5,158 Shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cim Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,330 shares of the network technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,158 shares during the quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 6,400.0% during the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 130 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, MTM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PANW opened at $191.69 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $204.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $197.51. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $144.15 and a fifty-two week high of $223.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 121.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.79.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 20th. The network technology company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.04. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 11.69% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on PANW shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $207.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (up previously from $225.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Thursday, November 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price (up from $235.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks from $216.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Thirty investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $225.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 846,408 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $204.06, for a total value of $172,718,016.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 275,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $56,119,152.78. The trade was a 75.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 120,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.91, for a total value of $23,177,738.34. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 327,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,878,351.95. This represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,228,330 shares of company stock valued at $251,702,305. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company 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.