Cantor Fitzgerald Weighs in on Fortinet, Inc.’s FY2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) – Equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their FY2024 earnings estimates for Fortinet in a research report issued on Friday, May 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst J. Ruykhaver now anticipates that the software maker will post earnings per share of $1.46 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $1.36. Cantor Fitzgerald has a “Neutral” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Fortinet’s current full-year earnings is $1.40 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.87.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $58.88 on Monday. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24. The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 156.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $120,746,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $75,698,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 358.1% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 17.54% 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.