MetLife Investment Management LLC Raises Stake in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP)

MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) by 34.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,500 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Check Point Software Technologies were worth $1,960,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new stake in Check Point Software Technologies during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Check Point Software Technologies by 53.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 173 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Check Point Software Technologies in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Check Point Software Technologies by 142.7% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Check Point Software Technologies by 370.6% in the 4th quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 240 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.51% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CHKP. Citigroup upped their target price on Check Point Software Technologies from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on Check Point Software Technologies from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America upgraded Check Point Software Technologies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $230.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Check Point Software Technologies presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $232.04.

Check Point Software Technologies Stock Performance

NASDAQ CHKP opened at $212.41 on Tuesday. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $145.75 and a fifty-two week high of $234.36. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $220.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $201.98. The stock has a market cap of $23.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.62.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $637.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $635.80 million. Check Point Software Technologies had a return on equity of 32.40% and a net margin of 32.97%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. will post 8.61 earnings per share for the current 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.