Short Interest in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Grows By 32.2%

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 17,960,000 shares, a growth of 32.2% from the February 13th total of 13,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,520,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $96.25 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.01 billion, a PE ratio of 42.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $102.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.79.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. On average, analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares in the company, valued at $4,796,972,076.19. 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 622,904 shares of company stock valued at $61,338,694 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W cut shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.72.

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.