Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Short Interest Up 5.9% in April

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) saw a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 13,970,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the March 31st total of 13,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,740,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in Fortinet by 22.4% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 984 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Buckhead Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 30,134 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. STF Management LP boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. STF Management LP now owns 12,917 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 12,743 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $748,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,211,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $63.18 on Wednesday. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $44.12 and a 52-week high of $81.24. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.57, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.19.

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.