Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Hits New 12-Month High at $69.15

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Rating) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $69.15 and last traded at $68.84, with a volume of 860052 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Fortinet from $54.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $68.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.30.

Fortinet Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $54.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.55, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 86.92, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.47.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The software maker reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 20.46% and a negative return on equity of 282.54%. The business had revenue of $1.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 98,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.18, for a total transaction of $5,920,147.32. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $274,962.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.40 per share, for a total transaction of $28,510.20. Following the purchase, the director now owns 290,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,594,258.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 98,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.18, for a total transaction of $5,920,147.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,962.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,297 shares of company stock valued at $8,800,269. Corporate insiders own 18.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 125,937.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,597,668 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $713,680,000 after purchasing an additional 14,586,086 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $312,964,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $196,373,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 26,607,677 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,300,849,000 after acquiring an additional 3,467,035 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 57.7% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,673,226 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $443,503,000 after acquiring an additional 2,440,659 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.35% of the company’s stock.

About Fortinet

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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.