Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Lowered to "Hold" Rating by Erste Group Bank

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.

Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports.

FTNT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $1.86 on Thursday, reaching $79.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,860,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,724,086. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.91. The company has a market cap of $60.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.07.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president directly 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,473,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 207,710 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $19,625,000 after acquiring an additional 25,323 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 14,548 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,374,000 after buying an additional 2,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,240 shares of the software maker's stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

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.