Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $62.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Fortinet from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.95. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556 in the last three months. Insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 156.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $554,945,000 after purchasing an additional 5,765,174 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $120,746,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the third quarter valued at approximately $75,698,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Fortinet by 358.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.