StockNews.com Downgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Hold

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

FTNT has been the topic of several other reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.77.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $96.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,107,357 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,980,541. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $103.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.68. 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.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. The trade was a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 25.4% in the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 20,408 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,964,000 after acquiring an additional 4,135 shares during the period. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $551,000. Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $633,000. 111 Capital acquired a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $2,195,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 93,331 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $8,818,000 after buying an additional 18,008 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.