Maverick Capital Ltd. Takes $326,000 Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired 3,382 shares of Fortinet, Inc., valued at approximately $326,000, according to a recent SEC filing.
• Institutional investors now hold 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, with several hedge funds increasing their stakes significantly in the first quarter.
• Recent analyst reports have downgraded Fortinet's stock, with Barclays lowering the price target from $110.00 to $90.00 and multiple firms assigning it a "Hold" rating.

Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,382 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Gould Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $908,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,650,000 after purchasing an additional 38,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $11,763,000 after purchasing an additional 16,139 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of Fortinet stock traded up $2.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $78.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,495,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,263,326. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $60.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.12. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.89.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Wedbush lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.03.

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.