Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Downgraded by Baird R W to Hold

Baird R W lowered shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Fortinet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.23.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.0 %

FTNT opened at $100.90 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.61. Fortinet has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $102.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.96, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.13. Fortinet had a return on equity of 973.30% and a net margin of 26.79%. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $386,027.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $425,901.87. This represents a 47.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056 in the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 900.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Company Profile

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.