Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $70.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective dropped by Jefferies Financial Group from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 10.41% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on FTNT. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Fortinet from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.19.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $63.40 on Thursday. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The stock has a market cap of $48.38 billion, a PE ratio of 43.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.55.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’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 value of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876. 17.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 6.6% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 663 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 5.2% during the first quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 863 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $295,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 6.1% during the first quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 867 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Fortinet by 53.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sawtooth Solutions LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 3.7% during the first quarter. Sawtooth Solutions LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $640,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.