Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given “Buy” Rating at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reissued their buy rating on shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a $81.00 price target on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on FTNT. HSBC decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a reduce rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $62.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.03.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $60.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.66. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24. The company has a market capitalization of $46.04 billion, a PE ratio of 39.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Fortinet will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total transaction of $1,442,709.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,742,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,901,640,012.99. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total value of $1,442,709.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,742,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,901,640,012.99. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 91,638 shares of company stock worth $5,705,568 in the last quarter. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 22.4% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 984 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 0.9% in the first quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,319 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,456,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 30,134 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. STF Management LP increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. STF Management LP now owns 12,917 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,696 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,211,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. 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.