TD Cowen Reiterates Hold Rating for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• TD Cowen has reaffirmed a hold rating for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) and set a price target of $105.00, suggesting an upside potential of 8.72% from the current share price.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.64 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.59, with a revenue of $1.63 billion for the last quarter, marking a 13.6% year-over-year increase.
• Insider trading activity included the sale of nearly 160,000 shares by CEO Ken Xie, valued at approximately $15.6 million, reflecting a 0.31% decrease in his ownership position.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reissued by equities research analysts at TD Cowen in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $105.00 price objective on the software maker's stock. TD Cowen's target price indicates a potential upside of 8.72% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on FTNT. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Barclays set a $110.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-four have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.00.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $96.58 on Thursday. Fortinet has a one year low of $65.00 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $73.92 billion, a PE ratio of 39.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm's fifty day moving average is $102.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.88.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 148.79%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dover Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 1.0% in the second 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 period. Balboa Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Fortinet by 4.3% in the second 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 period. Hemington Wealth Management increased its holdings in Fortinet by 13.2% in the second 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 period. Peloton Wealth Strategists increased its holdings in Fortinet by 2.4% in the first 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 period. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont increased its holdings in Fortinet by 3.6% in the second 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

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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