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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Fortinet from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a market perform rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.19.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $64.03 on Thursday. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a PE ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.52.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 132,139 shares of company stock worth $8,977,876. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 6.6% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 663 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 863 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 867 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sawtooth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 3.7% in the first quarter. Sawtooth Solutions LLC now owns 1,872 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $640,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.