DZ Bank Upgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Buy

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by stock analysts at DZ Bank from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $85.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. DZ Bank’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 14.26% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $74.39 on Friday. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $67.97 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $101.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.62. The company has a market capitalization of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 301,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.