Evercore ISI Trims Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Target Price to $67.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target decreased by Evercore ISI from $72.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “in-line” rating on the software maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 13.79% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on FTNT. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.92. The company has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, 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 transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total value of $1,553,482.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,660,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,150,776,958. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 22.4% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 984 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 30,134 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. STF Management LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 12,743 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 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.