Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $83.32 and last traded at $83.32, with a volume of 3895 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortinet from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. HSBC upgraded Fortinet from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.64.

Fortinet Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $74.98 and a 200 day moving average of $66.16. The company has a market cap of $63.02 billion, a PE ratio of 54.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at $608,626,179.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.94, for a total value of $1,763,937.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,878,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,662,977,721.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 71,943 shares of company stock worth $4,881,539. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Vima LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Winthrop Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 135.6% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter worth about $33,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.