Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised Fortinet from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Fortinet from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Fortinet from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Fortinet from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.71.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $81.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $61.93 billion, a PE ratio of 52.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.66. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $44.12 and a 12-month high of $83.77.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of Fortinet 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 $608,626,179.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total value of $1,908,610.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at $608,626,179.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,250 shares of company stock worth $6,790,149 over the last ninety days. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Winthrop Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter worth $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 61.2% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 627 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City State Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 900.0% during the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by 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.