These are good times for the US capital market and for shares of Israeli companies traded there. Among the beneficiaries of the spirit of optimism is Check Point (Nasdaq: CHKP), the Israeli network security giant, whose share price shot up to an annual high of $29.62, again bringing it close to the psychological barrier of $30, which it has not crossed for seven years.
Unsurprisingly, the heady heights that Check Point has reached have boosted the number of sell orders from two of its largest shareholders, Gil Shwed and Marius Nacht. At the end of last week, the two of them again reported their intentions of selling shares, which they do every few months.
To start with Shwed, the Check Point chairman and CEO seeks to sell a parcel of 400,000 shares at an average selling price of $28.02, for a total of $11.2 million. Monitoring of insider sales by “Globes” shows that Shwed has sold shares for $83.3 million gross in the past three and a half years. For the most part, Shwed, like Nacht, sells shares in order to finance the exercise more options.
Deputy chairman Marius Nacht is selling 200,000 shares at a slightly higher price, $28.41, to generate $5.7 million. Nacht has been more active than Shwed in the past three and a half years, selling shares for $419.9 million, a record sum for a private insider.
The positive momentum in Check Point shares has not as yet produced any new parties at interest in the company. Shwed currently owns 15.6% of it (worth $964 million), while Nacht owns 9.6% (worth $594 million). The Franklin Resources mutual funds own 11.1%. These figures are correct for the end of last year, but have presumably reduced after the latest sales by the company’s founders. Check Point has a market cap of $6.2 billion, after a 56% rise in its share price so far this year.
23 investment houses cover Check Point. 14 rate it “Buy”, with an average price target of $30.07. Check Point will report its third quarter results in eleven days, and it can be presumed that some of the positive momentum in the share arises from expectations that the results will be good.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on October 12, 2009
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