UBS Group Has Lowered Expectations for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price target lowered by investment analysts at UBS Group from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the software maker’s stock. UBS Group’s target price points to a potential downside of 2.19% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $67.00 price objective (down previously from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.48.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.6%

FTNT opened at $81.79 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market cap of $62.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a 52 week low of $70.12 and a 52 week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.660-2.700 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.730-0.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.53, for a total transaction of $306,835.38. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 10,492,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $907,874,317.54. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value of $13,710,537.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,445,911,452.29. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $585,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 20.6% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,438 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 3,758 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 644 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Fortinet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 106,280 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,231,000 after buying an additional 2,544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.