Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Cut to $73.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $81.00 to $73.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on FTNT. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a market perform rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a buy rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Fortinet from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $58.81 on Friday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $67.34 and its 200-day moving average is $61.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. 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.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556 over the last quarter. 17.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 156.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $554,945,000 after purchasing an additional 5,765,174 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,664,124 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $508,411,000 after acquiring an additional 108,548 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,595,608 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $328,350,000 after purchasing an additional 269,202 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,789,106 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $222,345,000 after purchasing an additional 153,119 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $203,501,000. 83.71% of the stock is 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.