HSBC Upgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to “Buy”

HSBC upgraded shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. HSBC currently has $111.00 target price on the software maker’s stock, up from their previous target price of $83.00.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Raymond James raised their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup increased their price target on Fortinet from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays upped their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.52.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $94.46 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.03. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $49.97 and a 52-week high of $100.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $72.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.00.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total value of $1,908,610.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Fortinet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,052,487 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,648,665,000 after acquiring an additional 779,271 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 664.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,400,215,000 after purchasing an additional 30,542,551 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Fortinet by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,156,797 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $491,610,000 after purchasing an additional 134,366 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Fortinet by 198.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $376,016,000 after buying an additional 4,148,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,787,931 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $448,854,000 after buying an additional 542,727 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.