Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $115.00 to $105.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the software maker's stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Baird R W cut Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $105.77.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT traded down $4.49 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $84.95. 5,787,672 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,982,987. Fortinet has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,861,200. The trade was a 9.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,115,470 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,435,550,000 after purchasing an additional 730,994 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Fortinet by 2.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,270,913 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,440,648,000 after acquiring an additional 387,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,388,693 shares of the software maker's stock worth $792,564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,888 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,048,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.