Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $95.00 to $105.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 8.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on FTNT. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Fortinet from $82.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.77.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $97.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $100.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $89.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total transaction of $1,908,610.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 68,123 shares of company stock worth $6,227,201. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 73.3% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank boosted its stake in Fortinet by 900.0% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. 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.