Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

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

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FTNT. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.19.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $63.40 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $68.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $44.12 and a 52-week high of $81.24. The company has a market cap of $48.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.72, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876. 17.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 430 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Vima LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.