Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-two brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nineteen have assigned a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $105.69.

FTNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $96.60 on Friday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. Analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 188.9% in the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is 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.