Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Cut to $75.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target reduced by analysts at Robert W. Baird from $81.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 24.79% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. HSBC lowered Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.77.

Fortinet Stock Down 7.8 %

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $60.10 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.90. The stock has a market cap of $45.88 billion, a PE ratio of 44.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Fortinet by 156.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $554,945,000 after buying an additional 5,765,174 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $120,746,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $75,698,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 358.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Company Profile

Fortinet, Inc provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. It offers secure networking solutions focus on the convergence of networking and security; network firewall solutions that consist of FortiGate data centers, hyperscale, and distributed firewalls, as well as encrypted applications; wireless LAN solutions; and secure connectivity solutions, including FortiSwitch secure ethernet switches, FortiAP wireless local area network access points, FortiExtender 5G connectivity gateways, and other products.