StockNews.com Upgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Buy

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

FTNT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $98.65. 5,778,320 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,796,462. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $102.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. Fortinet has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,200. This trade represents a 9.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Fortinet by 188.9% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. 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.