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 note issued on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Fortinet from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-two have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.25.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.3 %

FTNT stock opened at $80.62 on Friday. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $83.77. The firm has a market cap of $61.59 billion, a PE ratio of 52.69, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $77.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total value of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,842,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,250 shares of company stock worth $6,790,149 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Winthrop Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Fortinet by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 627 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, City State Bank lifted its position in Fortinet by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.