Erste Group Bank Downgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Hold

Key Points

• Erste Group Bank has downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating, reflecting a cautious outlook on the company's stock.
• Market analysts have provided mixed assessments of Fortinet, with ratings ranging from "overweight" to "underperform," and a consensus target price of $97.93.
• Fortinet's stock currently has a market capitalization of $60.79 billion and reported a 13.6% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, highlighting its robust financial performance despite recent downgrades.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Erste Group Bank from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Finviz reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $79.33 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.79 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,473,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 207,710 shares of the software maker's stock worth $19,625,000 after acquiring an additional 25,323 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 14,548 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240 shares of the software maker's stock worth $590,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently 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.

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