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

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $75.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the software maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Fortinet from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $72.19.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $64.03 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $68.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,992 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total transaction of $1,553,482.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,660,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,150,776,958. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,992 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $1,553,482.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,660,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,150,776,958. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 132,139 shares of company stock worth $8,977,876. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cito Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $660,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 7.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 38,751 shares in the last quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 63,788 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,743,000 after purchasing an additional 7,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,487,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.