Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given Outperform Rating at Wedbush

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $86.00 price target on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on FTNT. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Fortinet from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $58.88 on Wednesday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.90. The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 156.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $554,945,000 after purchasing an additional 5,765,174 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $120,746,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $75,698,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 358.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

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.