Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $115.00 to $105.00. The stock had previously closed at $106.72, but opened at $97.60. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Fortinet shares last traded at $94.42, with a volume of 5,035,059 shares trading hands.

FTNT has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 738,978 shares of company stock valued at $74,135,907. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TIAA Trust National Association raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 401.2% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 13,121 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 10,503 shares during the period. Castellan Group increased its stake in Fortinet by 59.1% during the first quarter. Castellan Group now owns 138,768 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,358,000 after purchasing an additional 51,560 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $4,486,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.5% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,560 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,159,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $74.71 billion, a PE ratio of 43.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $98.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.25.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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.