StockNews.com Lowers Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Hold

by · The Cerbat Gem

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Piper Sandler upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.71.

Read Our Latest Analysis on FTNT

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $80.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,092,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,542,836. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.85, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $83.77.

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

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were 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 $3,568,434,657.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,250 shares of company stock worth $6,790,149. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Winthrop Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 135.6% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank lifted its stake in Fortinet by 900.0% in the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortinet

(Get Free Report)

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.

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