Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $105.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $123.00 to $105.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the software maker’s stock.

FTNT has been the topic of several other reports. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.17.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $96.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $73.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.22 and its 200-day moving average is $94.90. Fortinet has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. Equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value of $32,080,385.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 576,944 shares of company stock worth $56,944,064 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.