Fortinet Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Fortinet saw a significant increase in options trading, with 24,963 call options purchased, a 39% rise compared to the usual volume.
• The company's stock price rose by 3.5% to $83.86, with a total of 6,291,192 shares exchanged, surpassing its average volume.
• Analysts have downgraded Fortinet's target prices, with recommendations ranging from "buy" to "hold," reflecting a cautious outlook among financial experts.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 24,963 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average daily volume of 17,938 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caldwell Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $436,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 19.4% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,834 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,251,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926 shares during the period. American Trust purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in Fortinet by 17.9% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 6,565 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $694,000 after buying an additional 997 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Fortinet by 51.5% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 34,807 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,680,000 after buying an additional 11,835 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wedbush decreased their target price on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.0%

NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.80 on Monday, hitting $85.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,169,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,528,245. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $87.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.92. The firm has a market cap of $65.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.30, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 1.13.

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

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.