JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target to $70.00

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $63.00 to $70.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the software maker’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $65.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $71.31.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $69.69. The stock had a trading volume of 6,988,618 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,926,143. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $73.91. The company has a market cap of $53.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.59 and its 200-day moving average is $63.74.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total transaction of $1,442,709.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,742,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,901,640,012.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.55 per share, for a total transaction of $34,896.30. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 295,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,613,579.90. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total transaction of $1,442,709.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,742,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,901,640,012.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 91,915 shares of company stock valued at $5,401,638 over the last ninety days. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 72,668.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,192 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,065,000 after buying an additional 18,167 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,693,000 after buying an additional 34,582 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 2,092.4% in the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 40,603 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after buying an additional 38,751 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation increased its position in Fortinet by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 748,784 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,478,000 after purchasing an additional 94,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its position in Fortinet by 101.4% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 61,964 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,627,000 after purchasing an additional 31,198 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortinet

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.