Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Stifel Nicolaus Analyst Says

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price lifted by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $103.00 to $115.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price suggests a potential upside of 9.44% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on FTNT. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Baird R W downgraded Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.63.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.36 on Friday, hitting $105.08. 4,595,402 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,215,925. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $110.53. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $97.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.21.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%. Analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $386,027.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,901.87. This represents a 47.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares in the company, valued at $4,796,972,076.19. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,115,663,000 after buying an additional 766,135 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,012 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,151,097,000 after acquiring an additional 354,692 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Fortinet by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,577,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $631,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,860 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,787,931 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $448,854,000 after acquiring an additional 542,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,974,625 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $375,523,000 after purchasing an additional 156,766 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently 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.