Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) Shares Down 5.3% on Analyst Downgrade

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) fell 5.3% on Tuesday after Citigroup downgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a negative rating. The stock traded as low as $135.12 and last traded at $134.5760. 754,929 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 1,273,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $142.10.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Check Point Software Technologies in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $165.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $215.00 to $195.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $185.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Check Point Software Technologies from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $203.91.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Check Point Software Technologies

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Check Point Software Technologies by 28.6% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,937,229 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,472,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,774 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Check Point Software Technologies during the fourth quarter worth approximately $731,276,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Check Point Software Technologies by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,654,602 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,588,000 after acquiring an additional 157,327 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Check Point Software Technologies by 0.3% during the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,601,592 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $538,295,000 after acquiring an additional 8,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Check Point Software Technologies by 8.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,171,322 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $449,274,000 after acquiring an additional 170,075 shares during the last quarter. 98.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Check Point Software Technologies Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $155.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.65.

Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $3.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.77 by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $744.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.40 million. Check Point Software Technologies had a net margin of 38.78% and a return on equity of 38.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.70 earnings per share. Check Point Software Technologies has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 2.350-2.450 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 10.050-10.850 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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. is an Israeli-founded cybersecurity company that develops, markets and supports a broad portfolio of network, cloud and endpoint security products. Founded in 1993, the company was an early pioneer of stateful inspection firewall technology and later developed a modular “software blade” approach that allowed customers to combine protection capabilities. Check Point’s product set spans physical and virtual security appliances, software and cloud-native services designed to prevent cyberattacks, protect data and simplify security management for enterprises and service providers.

Key product families include Quantum Security Gateways (on-premises and hybrid appliances), CloudGuard (cloud security posture and workload protection), Harmony (endpoint, remote access and unified endpoint security), and SandBlast (advanced threat prevention and sandboxing).