Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-two analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty have assigned a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.37.

FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $59.63 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.52 billion, a PE ratio of 38.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other 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 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 approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 123,042 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 6,815 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 92.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 147,644 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $8,506,000 after purchasing an additional 70,822 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 2,649 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $155,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Simmons Bank raised its holdings in Fortinet by 302.2% during the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 19,969 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after buying an additional 15,004 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 3.3% in the third quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 57,009 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,345,000 after buying an additional 1,841 shares during the last quarter. 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.