Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 121,234 Shares of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) by 30.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 524,875 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 121,234 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.48% of Check Point Software Technologies worth $97,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Check Point Software Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $428,820,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in Check Point Software Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $100,456,000. Causeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 487,823 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Check Point Software Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,186,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 269,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.51% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CHKP. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective (up from $220.00) on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $215.00 target price on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Check Point Software Technologies from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $232.04.

Check Point Software Technologies Stock Performance

CHKP stock opened at $217.23 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $220.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $202.81. The company has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.66.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $637.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.80 million. Check Point Software Technologies had a return on equity of 32.40% and a net margin of 32.97%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.04 earnings per share. Equities 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.