Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Down 0.7%

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) shares were down 0.7% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $75.09 and last traded at $75.27. Approximately 902,607 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,731,800 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.80.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. HSBC upgraded Fortinet from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.4 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.10 billion, a PE ratio of 49.20, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a net margin of 23.71% and a negative return on equity of 2,160.10%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total transaction of $1,731,010.58. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,842,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total value of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,842,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. 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 24,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 96,907 shares of company stock valued at $6,016,573. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Fortinet by 664.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,400,215,000 after buying an additional 30,542,551 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth $548,013,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Fortinet by 198.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $376,016,000 after purchasing an additional 4,148,520 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $203,501,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 94.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,755,599 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $346,890,000 after buying an additional 2,802,446 shares during the last quarter. 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.