Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,520,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the August 31st total of 13,720,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 5,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,777,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,927,125,412.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $1,456,262.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,777,294 shares in the company, valued at $2,927,125,412.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 96,210 shares of company stock worth $6,337,801. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vima LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winthrop Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on FTNT shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. HSBC raised shares of Fortinet from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.57.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.4 %

Fortinet stock traded down $1.06 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.49. The company had a trading volume of 3,966,172 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,652,093. The stock has a market cap of $58.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $78.50. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.45.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.72 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.