Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Rating Upgraded by DZ Bank

Key Points

• DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet's (NASDAQ: FTNT) stock rating from "hold" to "buy" with a target price of $85.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.88% from the previous close.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.64 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, alongside a revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, marking a 13.6% year-over-year increase.
• Over the past two weeks, various analysts have adjusted their price targets for Fortinet, with 23 holding a "hold" rating and only 9 giving it a "buy," reflecting a diverse outlook on the stock.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at DZ Bank from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $85.00 target price on the software maker's stock. DZ Bank's price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.26% from the stock's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Cowen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 17,001,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,194,551. The company has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $67.97 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $101.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.33.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other 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 value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 505,863 shares of the software maker's stock worth $53,480,000 after purchasing an additional 19,920 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 13.7% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,690 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 45.5% during the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 27,075 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,862,000 after buying an additional 8,465 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 34.6% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 763,345 shares of the software maker's stock worth $80,701,000 after buying an additional 196,325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Fortinet by 7.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 164,728 shares of the software maker's stock worth $17,415,000 after buying an additional 10,934 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is 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.