Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $75.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target cut by Robert W. Baird from $81.00 to $75.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software maker’s stock.

FTNT has been the topic of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set a market perform rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Susquehanna restated a neutral rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Fortinet from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $6.32 on Friday, hitting $58.88. 15,896,615 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,338,557. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.90. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $81.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08.

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. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, 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 three months, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

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

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.