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

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target lowered by Piper Sandler from $75.00 to $70.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the software maker’s stock.

FTNT has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Fortinet from $60.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Fortinet in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They set a market perform rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a buy rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $58.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $67.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.96. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Cito Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $660,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its position in Fortinet by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,693,000 after buying an additional 34,582 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,411,000 after acquiring an additional 38,751 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 748,784 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $44,478,000 after acquiring an additional 94,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $3,743,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares in the last quarter. 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.