Robert W. Baird Trims Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Target Price to $75.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective cut by Robert W. Baird from $81.00 to $75.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on FTNT. HSBC cut shares of Fortinet from a hold rating to a reduce rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a market perform rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reiterated a neutral rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $52.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $81.24. The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.95.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 2,235.48%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556 over the last quarter. Insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 220.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 34,378 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,348,000 after purchasing an additional 23,643 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 18.5% in the first quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 5,589 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 42.0% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 15,084 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,030,000 after acquiring an additional 4,461 shares in the last quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $14,847,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $569,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.