Scotiabank Has Strong Estimate for Fortinet FY2024 Earnings

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) – Equities researchers at Scotiabank upped their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Fortinet in a report released on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst P. Colville now expects that the software maker will earn $1.95 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $1.75. Scotiabank has a “Sector Outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortinet’s current full-year earnings is $1.94 per share.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. KeyCorp raised shares of Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. HSBC raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $111.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.35.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $93.83 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $94.89 and its 200-day moving average is $79.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $71.92 billion, a PE ratio of 47.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $101.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,692 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,144,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Fulcrum Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 126,020 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,906,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,809 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $603,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 137,932 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $13,032,000 after buying an additional 8,602 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 355 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total value of $1,908,610.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares in the company, valued at $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,123 shares of company stock worth $6,227,201 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% 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.