Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $74.00 to $85.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Fortinet traded as high as $79.07 and last traded at $78.93, with a volume of 817908 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.01.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on FTNT. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Fortinet from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,777,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,927,125,412.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,777,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,125,412.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,210 shares of company stock valued at $6,337,801 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

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

Fortinet Stock Up 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $59.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.84, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $73.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.85.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 23.71% and a negative return on equity of 2,160.10%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

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.