Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on FTNT. HSBC lowered shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.19.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT traded down $0.63 on Thursday, hitting $64.03. 3,086,175 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,924,647. The firm has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a PE ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 20.4% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 430 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.