Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Short Interest Up 19.8% in December

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,280,000 shares, an increase of 19.8% from the November 30th total of 12,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT traded down $1.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $96.08. 2,773,441 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,386,217. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.53, a PEG ratio of 2.77 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 has a 50 day moving average of $91.50 and a 200-day moving average of $76.76. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $100.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. KeyCorp upgraded Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.77.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total transaction of $1,908,610.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 68,123 shares of company stock worth $6,227,201 over the last three months. 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. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 73.3% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank grew its holdings in Fortinet by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.