Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $80.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Scotiabank from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 35.87% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on FTNT. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Fortinet stock traded down $6.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.88. 15,894,899 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,879,701. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $44.12 and a 12-month high of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.90.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 7.0% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 129,130 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,402 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its position in Fortinet by 26.6% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,717 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 5.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 123,042 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,220,000 after buying an additional 6,815 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. grew its position in Fortinet by 1.3% during the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 321,490 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $18,865,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in Fortinet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 134,600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,898,000 after buying an additional 4,800 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.