In a report issued Monday, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:$WFC) dropped its ratings of Imperva Inc. (NYSE:$IMPV) from ‘Outperform’ to ‘Market Perform’, according to The Fly.

Imperva, Inc. is a cybersecurity company that specializes in protecting business-critical data and applications both on-site and cloud-based.

On Monday, shares of Imperva reached $44.25, trading down 2.53% on a trading volume of 306,322 shares. It currently has a 52-week low of $34.40 and a 52-week high of $57.24. The company has 50 and 200-day moving averages of $44.14 and $45.72 respectively.

Several other firms have also recently weighed in on the stock;

• Stifel Nicolaus: In a research note on Friday, July 14th, this firm restated a ‘Hold’ rating and issued a price target of $47.00.
• Evercore ISI: In a report on Thursday, August 10th, Evercore gave the stock a ‘Buy’ rating and set a price target of $56.00.
• Piper Jaffray Companies (NYSE:$PJC): In a research note on Monday, August 28th, Piper Jaffray gave the stock a ‘Buy’ rating and set a price target of $58.00.
• BidaskClub: In a research note on Tuesday, September 12th, BidaskClub upgraded their rating from ‘Sell’ to ‘Hold’.
• Zacks Investment Research: In a research note dated Wednesday, September 27th, Zacks dropped its rating from ‘Strong-Buy’ to ‘Hold’.

The stock currently has 12 ‘Buy’ ratings, 9 ‘Hold’ ratings, and 1 ‘Sell’ rating, giving it an average rating of ‘Buy’, with an average target price of $52.78.

Imperva posted its last quarterly earnings on Thursday, July 27th. It reported an EPS of -$.10, $0.05 shy of the Reuters’ consensus of -$0.15. During the same quarter last year, the firm reported EPS of -$0.23. Analysts predict that the company will post an annualized EPS of $0.81 for the current fiscal year. The company also reported revenue of $74.44 million compared to analysts’ estimates of $74.30 million. On a year-over-year basis, revenue was up 28.6%.

Multiple firms have recently altered their stakes in the company:

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought 3,349 shares during the 2nd quarter, an increase of 34.8%, for a total of 12,969 shares valued at $621,000.
• Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought an additional 886 shares, an increase of 26.2%, for a total of 4,177 shares valued at $201,000.
• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought an additional 3,348 shares during the second quarter, an increase of 15.0%, for a total of 25,684 shares valued at $1,229,000.
• California State Teachers Retirement System (Privately-Traded) bought an additional 2,872 shares during the 2nd quarter, an increase of 5.1%, for a total of 59,306 shares valued at $2,838,000.
• Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought an additional 464 shares during the 2nd quarter, an increase of 18.7%, for a total of 2,940 shares valued at $141,000.

Institutional ownership accounts for 92.7% of the company’s total stock.

In insider news, Director Anthony J. Bettencourt sold 99,598 shares for an average price of $43.59 and a total value of $4,341,476.82. The sale took place August 24th. He now owns 99,598 shares, valued at $4,341,476.82. 2.20% of this company’s stock is owned by insiders.

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