Short Interest in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Rises By 11.2%

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Rating) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 14,530,000 shares, a growth of 11.2% from the December 15th total of 13,070,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.5 %

Fortinet stock opened at $50.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.46 billion, a PE ratio of 55.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.13. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $42.61 and a twelve month high of $71.52. The company has a 50 day moving average of $50.92 and a 200-day moving average of $52.43.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 2nd. The software maker reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.12 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 18.12% and a return on equity of 9,183.04%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 3rd. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, October 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.12.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP John Whittle sold 3,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.00, for a total value of $171,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $708,180. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 18.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 395.4% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 52,995,764 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,998,500,000 after purchasing an additional 42,299,029 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 380.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,872,049 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,463,841,000 after purchasing an additional 20,487,614 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 17.2% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 23,140,642 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,136,900,000 after purchasing an additional 3,403,145 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 148.6% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,416,167 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $419,606,000 after acquiring an additional 4,433,565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Fortinet by 363.9% during the second quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,811,189 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $385,377,000 after acquiring an additional 5,343,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.35% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Fortinet, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions to a variety of businesses, such as enterprises, communication service providers and small businesses. It operates through the following segments: Network Security, Infrastructure Security, Cloud Security, and Endpoint Protection, Internet of Things and Operational Technology.