Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $114.52 and last traded at $114.25, with a volume of 665405 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $111.64.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp raised Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.72.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $99.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.57 billion, a PE ratio of 50.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 463.85%. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total value of $2,244,163.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,796,972,076.19. This trade represents a 0.05 % 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. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $448,549.74. The trade was a 79.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,610 shares of company stock worth $6,083,029 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,115,470 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,435,550,000 after acquiring an additional 730,994 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Fortinet by 2.9% in the 3rd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,270,913 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,440,648,000 after buying an additional 387,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,388,693 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $792,564,000 after buying an additional 2,000,888 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $724,048,000. 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.