Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $115.00 to $105.00. The stock had previously closed at $106.72, but opened at $97.60. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Fortinet shares last traded at $94.42, with a volume of 5,035,059 shares.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.80.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 738,978 shares of company stock valued at $74,135,907. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake 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. purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $98.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.36. The company has a market cap of $74.50 billion, a PE ratio of 43.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.