Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given Neutral Rating at Robert W. Baird

Robert W. Baird reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Robert W. Baird currently has a $112.00 target price on the software maker’s stock, up from their prior target price of $105.00.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on FTNT. StockNews.com upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. HSBC raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $83.00 to $111.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.23.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $100.90 on Monday. Fortinet has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $102.87. The firm has a market cap of $77.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $96.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.61.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.13. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.66, for a total transaction of $1,688,399.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $448,549.74. This represents a 79.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. This represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 276.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $285,790,000 after buying an additional 2,705,767 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 3,155.6% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,241 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Fortinet by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 98.9% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $113,057,000 after purchasing an additional 724,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 1,084.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 657,311 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $62,103,000 after purchasing an additional 601,801 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.