Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-four brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $105.10.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W lowered shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, February 3rd.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $97.03 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $74.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.52. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $32,080,385.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. The trade was a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 576,944 shares of company stock valued at $56,944,064. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its position in Fortinet by 703.1% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 47.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.