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

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $98.65 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $102.34 and its 200 day moving average is $92.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in Fortinet by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. 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.