Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the thirty-four ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $104.80.

Several research firms recently commented on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT traded down $0.83 on Friday, hitting $100.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,422,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,960,445. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $77.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $101.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $16,815,576.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.