BMO Capital Markets Trims Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Target Price to $70.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $82.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on FTNT. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Fortinet from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Barclays cut their price objective on Fortinet from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $70.37.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $58.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $44.12 and a 1 year high of $81.24. The stock has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $67.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.96.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Vima LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 135.6% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 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.