Morgan Stanley Lowers Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $105.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $123.00 to $105.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the software maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 9.23% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FTNT. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.17.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $96.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.03. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares in the company, valued at $1,861,200. This trade represents a 9.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 576,944 shares of company stock valued at $56,944,064. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. grew its stake in Fortinet by 188.9% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently 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.