StockNews.com Downgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Hold

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on FTNT. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 report on Friday, February 7th. KeyCorp upgraded Fortinet from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $105.77.

Fortinet Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $4.73 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.71. 11,172,260 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,985,653. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $102.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.87. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530 over the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,729 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 14.7% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 25,760 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 21.0% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 50,096 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,885,000 after purchasing an additional 8,708 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter worth about $93,000. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its position in Fortinet by 49.0% in the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 21,601 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,675,000 after buying an additional 7,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.