Barclays Cuts Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $90.00

Key Points

• Barclays has reduced Fortinet's price target from $110.00 to $90.00, maintaining an "equal weight" rating, which suggests a potential upside of 24.09% from the current price.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.64 per share, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.59, with revenue rising 13.6% year-over-year.
• A notable insider, VP Michael Xie, sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock at an average price of $98.48, which represents a 4.67% decrease in his holdings.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by Barclays from $110.00 to $90.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the software maker's stock. Barclays's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 20.98% from the stock's previous close.

FTNT has been the subject of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and cut their price target for the company from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Roth Capital set a $103.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $74.39. 17,001,530 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,194,551. The company has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet has a 52 week low of $67.97 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.1% in the second quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 505,863 shares of the software maker's stock worth $53,480,000 after purchasing an additional 19,920 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,024 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,483,000 after buying an additional 1,690 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% during the 2nd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 27,075 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,862,000 after buying an additional 8,465 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 34.6% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 763,345 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $80,701,000 after acquiring an additional 196,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Fortinet by 7.1% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,728 shares of the software maker's stock worth $17,415,000 after acquiring an additional 10,934 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Company Profile

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.