Short Interest in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) Declines By 14.5%

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) saw a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,840,000 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the October 15th total of 3,320,000 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 661,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.3 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on CHKP shares. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Check Point Software Technologies from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Check Point Software Technologies from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $187.00 price target on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Check Point Software Technologies currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.74.

Check Point Software Technologies Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of CHKP traded down $3.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $174.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 598,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 932,522. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.23. The firm has a market cap of $19.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.63. Check Point Software Technologies has a 1-year low of $139.55 and a 1-year high of $210.70.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.25. Check Point Software Technologies had a net margin of 33.17% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The firm had revenue of $635.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.96 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.80 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Check Point Software Technologies will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Check Point Software Technologies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies during the 1st quarter worth about $6,558,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Check Point Software Technologies in the third quarter worth approximately $1,599,000. M&G Plc increased its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 108,449 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,894,000 after purchasing an additional 9,830 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies in the 1st quarter valued at $2,928,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its position in Check Point Software Technologies by 50.7% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 27,288 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,476,000 after buying an additional 9,180 shares during the last quarter. 87.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.