Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $75.00 Price Target at Mizuho

Key Points

• Fortinet's price target was lowered by Mizuho from $87.00 to $75.00, with an "underperform" rating on the stock, suggesting only a potential upside of 3.41%.
• Several other analysts have also revised their price targets, with Stifel Nicolaus setting a target of $95.00 and Barclays lowering theirs to $90.00, with a current consensus rating of "Hold."
• Fortinet recently reported $0.64 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, and had a revenue of $1.63 billion, indicating a year-over-year growth of 13.6%.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Mizuho from $87.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "underperform" rating on the software maker's stock. Mizuho's price target suggests a potential upside of 0.82% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday. Cowen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.2%

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

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in Fortinet by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Fortinet by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,763,000 after acquiring an additional 16,139 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 18.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,928,000 after buying an additional 3,189 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.