Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $70.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target decreased by BMO Capital Markets from $82.00 to $70.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the software maker’s stock.

FTNT has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup downgraded Fortinet from a buy rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a buy rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday. Capital One Financial cut Fortinet from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.37.

Fortinet Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.81. 14,471,111 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,978,480. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.95. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business 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 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 220.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 34,378 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 23,643 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 18.5% during the first quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 5,589 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 42.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 15,084 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 4,461 shares during the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth $14,847,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth $569,000. 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.