Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Lowers Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lowered its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 36.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 663,401 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 377,557 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned approximately 0.09% of Fortinet worth $62,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 843 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,833 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 6,904 shares of the software maker's stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,346 shares of the software maker's stock worth $789,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 9,390 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $902,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total value of $19,967,580.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,981,414,831.47. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 738,978 shares of company stock worth $74,135,907 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens assumed coverage on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $123.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $103.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.80.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $1.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $102.23. 2,035,468 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,947,471. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $98.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.83. The firm has a market cap of $78.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet 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.