Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Robert W. Baird Analyst Says

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by investment analysts at Robert W. Baird from $110.00 to $113.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the software maker's stock. Robert W. Baird's price objective points to a potential upside of 3.97% from the stock's previous close.

FTNT has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $123.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Baird R W cut Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group set a $123.00 target price on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.07.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $108.69 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.09, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $98.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.01. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,660 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.18, for a total value of $1,928,118.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at $517,076.48. This trade represents a 78.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $16,815,576.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. The trade was a 0.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 738,978 shares of company stock worth $74,135,907 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $724,048,000. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $389,867,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,531,705 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $617,115,000 after buying an additional 2,846,475 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker's stock worth $720,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 72.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,906,439 shares of the software maker's stock worth $463,561,000 after acquiring an additional 2,064,016 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently 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.

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