Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on FTNT. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Citigroup downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $6.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.88. The company had a trading volume of 15,894,899 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,879,701. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.71 and its 200 day moving average is $61.90.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 quarter, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vima LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.