Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Cut to $63.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the software maker’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 7.00% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FTNT. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 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-one have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $6.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.88. 15,894,899 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,879,701. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,992 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total transaction of $1,553,482.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,660,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,150,776,958. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 ninety days, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $569,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $190,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 124.4% during the 1st quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 22,137 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after acquiring an additional 12,270 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $314,000. Finally, Graypoint LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $208,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.