Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on FTNT. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. HSBC cut Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "reduce" rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. DZ Bank cut Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.35.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.13. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,641,163 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,116,026. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.24. The firm has a market cap of $51.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 108,147 shares of company stock valued at $7,424,394. 17.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 364.3% during the first quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 202,881 shares of the software maker's stock worth $13,859,000 after buying an additional 159,187 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 6.7% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,196 shares of the software maker's stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 71.1% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 72,384 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,945,000 after buying an additional 30,084 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 112,145 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,661,000 after buying an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 22.4% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 984 shares of the software maker's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.