Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Cut to $55.00 by Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target trimmed by Cantor Fitzgerald from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the software maker’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Fortinet’s FY2024 earnings at $1.46 EPS.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on FTNT. Susquehanna restated a neutral rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Fortinet from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. DZ Bank lowered Fortinet from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

Shares of FTNT stock traded down $6.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $58.88. 15,896,615 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,338,557. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.90. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, 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 link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556 over the last ninety days. 17.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Fortinet by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 984 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 30,134 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. STF Management LP grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. STF Management LP now owns 12,917 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $756,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 1.6% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 12,743 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is 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.