Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Now Covered by Morgan Stanley

Equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 25.29% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.69.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $98.17 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $102.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.12. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $75.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 188.9% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.