Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Up 1.7% – Time to Buy?

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)’s stock price was up 1.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $110.65 and last traded at $110.85. Approximately 860,267 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 4,558,789 shares. The stock had previously closed at $109.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.72.

Fortinet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $101.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.79, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.18, for a total value of $1,928,118.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $517,076.48. The trade was a 78.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares in the company, valued at $4,796,972,076.19. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 87,120 shares of company stock valued at $8,991,409. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,962,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 48.7% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 41,728 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,942,000 after acquiring an additional 13,669 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 79,687 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,529,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. American Trust increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. American Trust now owns 3,828 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 652 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 135.9% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 138,827 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,116,000 after buying an additional 79,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.