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

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $95.00 to $105.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on FTNT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Fortinet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.77.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded up $1.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $94.65. 1,162,030 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,389,299. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.94. 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 stock has a market cap of $72.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.80, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $100.59.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.66, for a total value of $1,688,399.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $448,549.74. This trade represents a 79.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. This represents a 0.24 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 45,207 shares of company stock valued at $3,983,037. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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