Wall Street Zen Downgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Hold

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $123.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.62.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT opened at $103.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.36. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $78.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s fifty day moving average is $102.54 and its 200-day moving average is $100.47.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 148.79%. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 301,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total value of $376,266.06. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 18,353.2% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 547,323 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 544,357 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Fortinet by 38.4% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter valued at $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,763,000 after acquiring an additional 16,139 shares in the last quarter. 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.