Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company 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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Fortinet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.72.

Fortinet Trading Up 10.0 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $78.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $70.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.46, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a net margin of 23.71% and a negative return on equity of 2,160.10%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 70,538 shares of company stock worth $5,403,559 in the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $569,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,015,000 after purchasing an additional 3,258 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in Fortinet by 43.1% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,061 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,825 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Fortinet by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 159,779 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,915,000 after purchasing an additional 9,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 7.4% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 136,700 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $9,338,000 after buying an additional 9,400 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.