Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Cut to $68.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $71.00 to $68.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on FTNT. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortinet from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. DZ Bank lowered Fortinet from a hold rating to a sell rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $6.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.88. 15,896,615 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,338,557. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly 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 negative return on equity of 5,061.85% 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet 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 owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’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 owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 135.6% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.