Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Lowered to $70.00 at Piper Sandler

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the software maker’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target indicates a potential upside of 18.89% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. HSBC cut Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

Fortinet stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.90. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 5,061.85% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related 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 directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value 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 approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vima LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.