Barclays Lowers Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $75.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 27.38% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on FTNT. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $86.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.68.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded down $6.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $58.88. 15,896,615 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,338,557. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The firm has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 5,061.85% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 129,130 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,402 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in Fortinet by 26.6% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,717 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Fortinet by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 123,042 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 6,815 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 321,490 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $18,865,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 134,600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

About Fortinet

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.