Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

FTNT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Fortinet from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $71.31.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $76.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.98. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $77.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.48.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total value of $1,731,010.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,842,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 18,701 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total transaction of $1,116,075.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,663 shares in the company, valued at $278,287.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total transaction of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,842,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,434,657.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 115,608 shares of company stock valued at $7,132,649 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 5,645.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 266,312 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $15,587,000 after purchasing an additional 261,677 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $8,222,000. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1,591.4% in the 4th quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 3,349 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $196,000 after acquiring an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 15,856 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 56.7% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,937 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,149 shares during the period. 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.