Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Down 1.6% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) fell 1.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $105.11 and last traded at $105.09. 853,312 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 4,813,215 shares. The stock had previously closed at $106.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Wedbush raised their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.72.

Fortinet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $78.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,796,972,076.19. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 87,120 shares of company stock worth $8,991,409. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in Fortinet by 188.9% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.