Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirty-three analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.07.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total transaction of $1,908,610.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total transaction of $1,908,610.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company’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 transaction, the vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,790,149 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 25,772 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 2.0% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,504 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 73.3% in the third quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 8,260 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Werlinich Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Werlinich Asset Management LLC now owns 10,650 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $639,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $78.74 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.30. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $44.12 and a 1 year high of $83.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market cap of $60.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released 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. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for 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%. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.