Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Capital One Financial downgraded Fortinet from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.19.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $0.63 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,086,175 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,924,647. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.52. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 53.3% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% during the first 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. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 20.4% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 430 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $147,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other 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.