Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has been given a $38.00 price objective by Evercore ISI in a note issued to investors on Thursday. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 1.41% from the stock’s current price.
The analysts wrote, “We believe most segments performed well with the exception of service providers. The company maintained its long-term margin targets (25% by 2022) which remain unaccompanied by growth metrics. FTNT’s board doubled the share repurchase authorization through Jan. 2019, which we view as a positive. We believe the company continues to execute on its push to shift its business towards ratable revenue which should make the topline more predictable and serve as a tailwind to margin expansion. The lack of clarity around the long-term business model remains an overhang that in combination with potentially tough guidance for the remainder of the year should keep the stock range bound in the near-term.””
Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, April 28th. UBS AG raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Dougherty & Co raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $38.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $41.56.
Shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) opened at 37.47 on Thursday. Fortinet has a one year low of $28.50 and a one year high of $41.56. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.66 and its 200-day moving average is $37.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 162.91 and a beta of 1.02.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The software maker reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 4.71% and a return on equity of 9.36%. The firm had revenue of $363.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.05 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Fortinet will post $0.95 EPS for the current year.
Fortinet declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 26th that allows the company to repurchase $300.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the software maker to buy up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
In other news, Director Ming Hsieh sold 4,743 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.29, for a total value of $186,352.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Keith Jensen sold 624 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.73, for a total transaction of $25,415.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,833.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,857 shares of company stock valued at $1,178,454 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 16.40% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 11.1% in the first quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,755 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $106,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in Fortinet by 21.4% in the first quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 3,060 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $116,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $121,000. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. raised its position in Fortinet by 523.8% in the first quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 3,275 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Finally, NEXT Financial Group Inc raised its position in Fortinet by 17,296.0% in the second quarter. NEXT Financial Group Inc now owns 4,349 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 4,324 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.84% of the company’s stock.
Fortinet Company Profile
Fortinet, Inc is a network security company. The Company provides cyber security solutions to a range of enterprises, service providers and government organizations across the world. Its network security solution consists of FortiGate physical, virtual machine and cloud platforms, which provide integrated security and networking functions to protect data, applications and users from network-and content-level security threats.
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