Ninety One North America Inc. Sells 62,556 Shares of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP)

Ninety One North America Inc. trimmed its stake in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) by 31.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 137,147 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 62,556 shares during the period. Check Point Software Technologies makes up about 2.1% of Ninety One North America Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc.’s holdings in Check Point Software Technologies were worth $31,259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Check Point Software Technologies in the 4th quarter worth $428,820,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Check Point Software Technologies by 5,396.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 658,485 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $150,081,000 after purchasing an additional 646,504 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Check Point Software Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $100,456,000. Causeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Check Point Software Technologies by 33.8% during the 4th 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. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Check Point Software Technologies by 182.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 627,489 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $143,017,000 after purchasing an additional 404,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.51% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CHKP. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $280.00 to $265.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens lowered their price target on Check Point Software Technologies from $255.00 to $229.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Check Point Software Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $232.44.

Check Point Software Technologies Stock Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:CHKP opened at $223.58 on Monday. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. has a 52 week low of $167.54 and a 52 week high of $234.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $221.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.59 billion, a PE ratio of 29.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.64.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) last issued 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 company had revenue of $637.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $635.80 million. Check Point Software Technologies had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 32.75%. Check Point Software Technologies’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Check Point Software Technologies Company 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.