Fortinet’s (FTNT) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their hold rating on shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortinet from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Capital One Financial cut Fortinet from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $6.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $58.88. 15,896,615 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,338,557. Fortinet has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $81.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556 in the last quarter. 17.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Fortinet by 156.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $554,945,000 after purchasing an additional 5,765,174 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at $120,746,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $75,698,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in Fortinet by 358.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,478,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% 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.