Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Cut to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Fortinet has been downgraded from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting analysts' cautious outlook on the stock.
• The company has a consensus target price of $97.93 with 25 analysts rating it as a hold, indicating that market confidence is tempered.
• Recent insider selling by CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie raised concerns, with significant reductions in their shareholdings despite the company's strong earnings performance.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Roth Capital set a $103.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Cowen cut shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $74.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $56.94 billion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $101.76 and a 200 day moving average of $101.60. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $67.97 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 sale, 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. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dover Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 9,451 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 2,330 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 851 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 4,330 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,852 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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