Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Radware in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $25.00 target price on shares of Radware in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Radware currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

Radware Stock Performance

Shares of RDWR stock opened at $27.20 on Friday. Radware has a 1 year low of $18.46 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The business’s fifty day moving average is $25.26 and its 200-day moving average is $24.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 60.45 and a beta of 0.87.

Radware (NASDAQ:RDWR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The information technology services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $80.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.65 million. Radware had a return on equity of 7.21% and a net margin of 6.71%.The company’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Radware will post 0.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Radware announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, February 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $80.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to buy up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Radware

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Radware by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,130,252 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $82,920,000 after purchasing an additional 431,572 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Radware by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,619,687 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $63,108,000 after purchasing an additional 588,064 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Radware by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,562,396 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $37,638,000 after purchasing an additional 348,824 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Radware by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,538,854 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $40,769,000 after buying an additional 24,363 shares during the period. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its stake in Radware by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 667,059 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $16,069,000 after buying an additional 21,928 shares during the period. 73.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Radware Company Profile

Radware Ltd. provides cybersecurity and application delivery solutions designed to ensure the availability, performance and security of mission‐critical applications. Its product portfolio includes on‐premises and cloud‐based offerings such as Alteon application delivery controllers, DefensePro network behavior analysis for DDoS mitigation and AppWall web application firewall. The company’s platforms use real‐time behavioral analysis, machine learning and automation to protect against distributed denial‐of‐service attacks, application layer threats and network intrusions.

Founded in 1997, Radware is co-headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a principal U.S.