Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has lowered its price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00, while maintaining a "sector perform" rating, indicating a potential upside of 31.49% from the current price.
• Fortinet's stock dropped by 25.2% during trading hours, reaching $72.25, significantly impacting its trading volume and market capitalization.
• Several other analysts have also revised their ratings on Fortinet, with Morgan Stanley reducing its target to $78.00 and Mizuho lowering it to $75.00, reflecting widespread bearish sentiment.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Royal Bank Of Canada from $110.00 to $95.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the software maker's stock.

FTNT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp lowered Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of FTNT stock traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $74.39. 17,001,530 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,194,551. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $101.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.62. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $67.97 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, 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 transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dover Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 9,451 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $999,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its stake in Fortinet by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 2,330 shares of the software maker's stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its stake in Fortinet by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 851 shares of the software maker's stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists lifted its stake in Fortinet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 4,330 shares of the software maker's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its stake in Fortinet by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,852 shares of the software maker's stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 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.