Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Rating Lowered by Baird R W

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Baird R W from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Fortinet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.73.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $102.78 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $96.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.92. The company has a market cap of $78.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.91, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. Fortinet has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $102.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.13. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.66, for a total value of $1,688,399.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $448,549.74. This trade represents a 79.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056 over the last 90 days. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank raised its position in Fortinet by 900.0% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other 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.