Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Short Interest Up 5.8% in September

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,520,000 shares, a growth of 5.8% from the August 31st total of 13,720,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT traded down $1.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,966,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,652,093. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $78.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.45.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 23.71% and a negative return on equity of 2,160.10%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at $608,626,179.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total value of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,842,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,210 shares of company stock worth $6,337,801 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vima LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Winthrop Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.57.

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.