Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $84.00 to $90.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on FTNT. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush increased their target price on Fortinet from $78.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Mizuho lowered Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Guggenheim lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Fortinet from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.93.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.3 %

Fortinet stock opened at $92.77 on Tuesday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $50.65 and a twelve month high of $100.59. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.00.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total value of $1,908,610.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares in the company, valued at $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total transaction of $386,027.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,901.87. The trade was a 47.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 51,095 shares of company stock worth $4,058,575 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Fortinet by 664.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,400,215,000 after purchasing an additional 30,542,551 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $548,013,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 198.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $376,016,000 after acquiring an additional 4,148,520 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Fortinet by 94.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,755,599 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $346,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 276.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,705,767 shares during the last quarter. 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.