Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $90.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets has reduced Fortinet's price target from $110.00 to $90.00, indicating a potential downside of 6.81% from its current price.
• The stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with twenty-one hold ratings, two sell ratings, and ten buy ratings.
• Insider activity includes VP Michael Xie selling over 476,000 shares of Fortinet stock, reducing his stake by 4.67%, while 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) had its price objective decreased by BMO Capital Markets from $110.00 to $90.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the software maker's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Roth Capital set a $103.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.2%

FTNT traded down $0.91 during trading hours 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 firm has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $67.97 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $101.76 and a 200 day moving average of $101.60.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,473,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortinet by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 646,736 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $61,104,000 after acquiring an additional 57,422 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $542,000. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,440,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

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.