Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $83.78 and last traded at $83.69, with a volume of 3689443 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $80.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on Fortinet from $74.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Fortinet from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.68.

Fortinet Stock Up 3.5 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.01 billion, a PE ratio of 47.85, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.94, for a total transaction of $1,763,937.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,878,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,662,977,721.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 70,538 shares of company stock valued at $5,403,559 in the last 90 days. Corporate 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 bought and sold shares of the stock. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Winthrop Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City State Bank increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.