Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $85.00

Key Points

• Wells Fargo & Company has lowered its price target for Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00, maintaining an "equal weight" rating, which indicates a potential upside of 19.24% from the current stock price.
• Other analysts have also adjusted their price targets for Fortinet, with estimates ranging from $75.00 to $105.00, reflecting a general trend of decreasing optimism in the stock.
• Fortinet's stock has dropped 26.2%, currently trading at $71.28, with a reported significant selling activity by company insiders.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $110.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the software maker's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target indicates a potential upside of 19.24% from the company's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush decreased their target price on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $101.14.

Fortinet Trading Down 26.2%

Fortinet stock traded down $25.30 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $71.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 30,978,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,944,432. The stock has a market cap of $54.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $102.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.88. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $67.97 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 148.79%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Fortinet by 2,184.6% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 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.

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