Cim Investment Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. $PANW

Cim Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 50.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,106 shares of the network technology company’s stock after selling 5,224 shares during the period. Cim Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $1,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in Palo Alto Networks during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks by 96.1% during the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 149 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James J. Goetz sold 22,684 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.41, for a total value of $3,729,476.44. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.81, for a total value of $147,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 46,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,502,184.05. This represents a 1.71% 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 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PANW shares. Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $209.00 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $223.00 price target (down from $245.00) on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.19.

Palo Alto Networks Stock Performance

Palo Alto Networks stock opened at $169.19 on Wednesday. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a one year low of $139.57 and a one year high of $223.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $189.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.48, a P/E/G ratio of 6.05 and a beta of 0.78.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The network technology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.58 billion. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 12.96% and a return on equity of 17.60%. Palo Alto Networks’s quarterly revenue was up 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

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.