Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price Down 4.6% - Here's What Happened

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) shares dropped 4.6% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $102.38 and last traded at $102.65. Approximately 2,101,805 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 4,858,948 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $105.62.

Fortinet Stock Down 6.2%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.94. The firm has a market cap of $77.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.36.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 148.79% and a net margin of 30.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $16,815,576.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,452,678,361.90. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total value of $376,266.06. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 5.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,898,223,000 after buying an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 387,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Fortinet by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,570,528 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $824,999,000 after purchasing an additional 181,835 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $724,048,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Fortinet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $720,150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,811 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.