UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price

Key Points

• UBS Group has downgraded its price target for Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating, which suggests a potential upside of 25.51% from the company's last close.
• Multiple research firms have recently adjusted their ratings on Fortinet, with Cowen lowering it from "buy" to "hold," while Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price from $110.00 to $95.00.
• Fortinet's stock is currently trading at $71.71 after a decline of $24.87 in mid-day trading, with a 52-week range showing a low of $67.97 and a high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by equities researchers at UBS Group from $105.00 to $90.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the software maker's stock. UBS Group's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.51% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on FTNT. Cowen lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.62.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $24.87 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $71.71. The company had a trading volume of 36,197,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,979,734. Fortinet has a one year low of $67.97 and a one year high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company's 50-day moving average price is $102.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.88. The firm has a market cap of $54.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.52, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 148.79% and a net margin of 30.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,473,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $976,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 646,736 shares of the software maker's stock worth $61,104,000 after purchasing an additional 57,422 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $542,000. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $11,440,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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