Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Stock Position in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP)

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP - Free Report) by 49.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 111,334 shares of the technology company's stock after selling 106,775 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.10% of Check Point Software Technologies worth $20,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Check Point Software Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at $428,820,000. Causeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 33.8% in the fourth quarter. Causeway Capital Management LLC now owns 1,929,604 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $360,257,000 after purchasing an additional 487,823 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,822,787 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $340,314,000 after purchasing an additional 269,925 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,429,724 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $266,930,000 after purchasing an additional 136,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 849,546 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $158,035,000 after purchasing an additional 27,267 shares in the last quarter. 98.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CHKP. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Check Point Software Technologies from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Check Point Software Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $230.00 to $260.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $232.04.

Check Point Software Technologies Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of CHKP stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $224.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 353,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 782,127. The company has a 50 day moving average of $219.18 and a 200 day moving average of $206.14. The stock has a market cap of $24.64 billion, a PE ratio of 30.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.66. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. has a 12-month low of $145.75 and a 12-month high of $237.74.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $637.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.80 million. Check Point Software Technologies had a net margin of 32.97% and a return on equity of 32.40%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Check Point Software Technologies Profile

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. develops, markets, and supports a range of products and services for IT security worldwide. The company offers a multilevel security architecture, cloud, network, mobile devices, endpoints information, and IOT solutions. It provides Check Point Infinity Architecture, a cyber security architecture that protects against fifth generation cyber-attacks across various networks, endpoint, cloud, workloads, Internet of Things, and mobile.