Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Cut to $55.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price reduced by Cantor Fitzgerald from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the software maker’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 6.59% from the company’s current price. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Fortinet’s FY2024 earnings at $1.46 EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Fortinet from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Capital One Financial cut Fortinet from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

FTNT opened at $58.88 on Friday. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $81.24. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $1,553,482.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,660,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,150,776,958. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.