CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) Trading Down 9.8% on Analyst Downgrade

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD)’s stock price traded down 9.8% during trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $600.00 to $480.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. CrowdStrike traded as low as $342.72 and last traded at $350.33. 15,003,649 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 318% from the average session volume of 3,588,301 shares. The stock had previously closed at $388.60.

CRWD has been the subject of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $353.00 price target on shares of CrowdStrike in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CrowdStrike from $500.00 to $580.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Argus boosted their target price on shares of CrowdStrike from $540.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of CrowdStrike from $600.00 to $550.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $550.00 target price on CrowdStrike in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Thirty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $546.26.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO George Kurtz sold 28,853 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $413.01, for a total value of $11,916,577.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,054,902 shares in the company, valued at $848,695,075.02. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Burt W. Podbere sold 10,516 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.33, for a total transaction of $5,082,698.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 179,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $86,571,169.62. This represents a 5.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 100,247 shares of company stock worth $45,722,274. 3.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CrowdStrike News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting CrowdStrike this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnerships (Microsoft, Qualtrics, etc.) bolster Falcon’s distribution and enterprise reach, supporting medium‑term growth prospects. Can Strategic Partnerships Drive CrowdStrike’s Next Growth Phase?
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts and commentators call the move an “AI ghost trade” and argue CrowdStrike’s platform, telemetry and customer ties make it resilient — signaling potential upside once panic subsides. ‘AI Ghost Trade’ Fears Slam CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Stock — But Dan Ives Sees Winners
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel cut its price target (from $600 to $480) but kept a Buy rating — a sign some firms view today’s weakness as a buying opportunity rather than a change in fundamentals. Stifel adjusts price target on CrowdStrike to $480 from $600, maintains Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Analyses arguing AI won’t easily displace CrowdStrike highlight the company’s scale, data advantage and managed services — factors that support longer‑term competitive moats. CrowdStrike stock: 3 simple reasons why AI can’t disrupt it
• Neutral Sentiment: Channel checks and industry notes (Oppenheimer, others) still point to strong demand for next‑gen endpoint security, but sentiment among partners and customers can shift quickly as AI tools proliferate. Oppenheimer Channel Checks Bode Well for These 2 Cybersecurity Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Anthropic’s Claude Code Security launch is the proximate cause of today’s decline — investors fear it could automate code and app security tasks that vendors currently sell, prompting a re‑rating across cybersecurity names. CrowdStrike, Datadog and other cybersecurity stocks slide after Anthropic’s AI tool launch
• Negative Sentiment: Broad coverage and press raise valuation risk: analysts and outlets are questioning how quickly AI tools will compress pricing and market share, increasing near‑term downside risk for richly valued names. CrowdStrike Valuation Tested As AI Code Security Tools Gain Ground
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple market reports show extended losses and elevated volume across the sector as investors de‑risk exposure to perceived AI disruption. Cybersecurity stocks drop for a second day as new Anthropic tool fuels AI disruption fears

Institutional Trading of CrowdStrike

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CRWD. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in CrowdStrike by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,670,000 after acquiring an additional 2,417 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of CrowdStrike by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in CrowdStrike in the second quarter worth about $284,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in CrowdStrike in the second quarter valued at approximately $300,000. Finally, AlTi Global Inc. bought a new position in shares of CrowdStrike during the 2nd quarter worth $220,000. Institutional investors own 71.16% of the company’s stock.

CrowdStrike Trading Down 9.8%

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $450.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $472.13. The company has a market cap of $88.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -278.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 21.86 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. CrowdStrike had a negative net margin of 6.88% and a negative return on equity of 2.12%. CrowdStrike’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CrowdStrike will post 0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CrowdStrike Company Profile

CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: CRWD) is a cybersecurity company founded in 2011 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. The firm was co-founded by George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch and became a publicly traded company following its initial public offering in 2019. CrowdStrike positions itself as a provider of cloud-native security solutions designed to protect endpoints, cloud workloads, identities and data against sophisticated cyber threats.

The company’s core offering is the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, a modular, cloud-delivered security architecture that combines endpoint protection (EPP), endpoint detection and response (EDR), threat intelligence, and device control through lightweight agents and centralized telemetry.