Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Rating Increased to Buy at 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.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group set a $123.00 price target on Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.69.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $98.65 on Friday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $75.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.53.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value 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. Insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 188.9% during the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.