Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) gapped up prior to trading on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $104.72, but opened at $109.49. Fortinet shares last traded at $106.97, with a volume of 3,289,914 shares changing hands.

The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.43.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 95.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 76,564 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,938,000 after acquiring an additional 37,294 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Fortinet by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,407 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Fortinet by 98.7% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 24,264 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 12,054 shares during the last quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 30.8% during the third quarter. ORBA Wealth Advisors L.L.C. now owns 19,503 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares during the period. Finally, JGP Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.4% in the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,035 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,244,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $82.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $97.38 and its 200 day moving average is $84.56.

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.