Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning.

FTNT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a reduce rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $58.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The company has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.53 and a 200-day moving average of $61.95.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vima LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.