HSBC Cuts Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $54.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective decreased by HSBC from $57.00 to $54.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. HSBC currently has a reduce rating on the software maker’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Fortinet from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Fortinet from $52.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Fortinet from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.87.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

FTNT stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.92. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cito Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $660,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in Fortinet by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,693,000 after purchasing an additional 34,582 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 2,092.4% in the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 40,603 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,411,000 after buying an additional 38,751 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 748,784 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,478,000 after buying an additional 94,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 12.5% during the third quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 63,788 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,743,000 after buying an additional 7,110 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.