Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FTNT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.69.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $98.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. On average, research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $32,080,385.28. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,782 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 58,352 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,021,000. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,580 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.