StockNews.com Upgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Buy

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

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho decreased their target price on Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on Fortinet from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.03.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $59.85 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.72 billion, a PE ratio of 39.12, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.51 and its 200 day moving average is $63.80. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total transaction of $1,442,709.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,742,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,901,640,012.99. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total value of $1,442,709.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,742,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,901,640,012.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,638 shares of company stock worth $5,705,568 in the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,052,487 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,648,665,000 after purchasing an additional 779,271 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 664.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,400,215,000 after buying an additional 30,542,551 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,664,124 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $508,411,000 after buying an additional 108,548 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth $548,013,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Fortinet by 7.6% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,996,822 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $273,023,000 after acquiring an additional 283,339 shares during the last quarter. 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.