Fortinet Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors acquired 27,985 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 127% compared to the typical volume of 12,322 call options.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $107.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $82.52 billion, a PE ratio of 54.37, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $110.53.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 973.30% and a net margin of 26.79%. Analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTNT. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Fortinet from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.43.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $386,027.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $425,901.87. This trade represents a 47.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 5.1% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 45,875 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,765,000 after acquiring an additional 2,227 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 7.0% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 129,330 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,030,000 after acquiring an additional 8,502 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 85.7% during the third quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,794 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $837,000 after acquiring an additional 4,980 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 95.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 76,564 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,938,000 after acquiring an additional 37,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Fortinet by 24.0% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,407 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. 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.