Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Earns "Hold (C+)" Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) has received a "Hold (C+)" rating from Weiss Ratings, amidst mixed opinions from other analysts regarding its stock performance.
• Analysts' price targets for Fortinet have been notably reorganized, with Morgan Stanley lowering their target to $67, while Truist Financial set it at $95, reflecting a cautious outlook on the company's stock.
• Fortinet's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of $0.64, surpassing estimates and demonstrating a 13.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c+)" rating reiterated by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research note issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. DZ Bank raised shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $86.46 on Wednesday. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The company has a market cap of $66.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $82.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Fortinet's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 73,319 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,165,000 after acquiring an additional 2,872 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 5,093 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $428,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Fortinet by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 165,423 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $13,909,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135 shares during the last quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 21,670 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,822,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $420,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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