Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was the recipient of 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 volume of 4,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised shares of Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. HSBC upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $83.00 to $111.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.77.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $96.08. 2,773,441 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,386,217. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $100.59. The firm has a market cap of $73.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $91.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.34.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,983,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,796,972,076.19. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 68,123 shares of company stock valued at $6,227,201. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 173 shares during the period. City State Bank increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 900.0% in the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 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.