Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) Stock

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $200.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential downside of 8.67% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CHKP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Check Point Software Technologies from $200.00 to $238.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $207.95.

Check Point Software Technologies Price Performance

NASDAQ:CHKP opened at $218.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average of $187.94 and a 200 day moving average of $187.44. Check Point Software Technologies has a 1-year low of $145.75 and a 1-year high of $226.03.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.25. The firm had revenue of $635.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $634.96 million. Check Point Software Technologies had a net margin of 33.17% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.80 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Check Point Software Technologies will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Check Point Software Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CHKP. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Check Point Software Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Check Point Software Technologies in the third quarter worth about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Check Point Software Technologies by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 173 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Check Point Software Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in Check Point Software Technologies in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. 98.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Check Point Software Technologies

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.