Aberdeen Group plc Grows Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 97.5% in the first quarter, now owning 448,097 shares valued at approximately $42.7 million.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.64 per share for the recent quarter, surpassing estimates, with a net margin of 30.60% and a year-over-year revenue increase of 13.6%.
• Institutional investors own 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, indicating significant interest from large financial entities, with various firms adjusting their positions in the company recently.

Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 97.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 448,097 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 221,173 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.06% of Fortinet worth $42,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fortinet by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after buying an additional 3,546,934 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,570,528 shares of the software maker's stock worth $824,999,000 after buying an additional 181,835 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Fortinet by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,470,320 shares of the software maker's stock worth $611,316,000 after buying an additional 951,233 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,990,190 shares of the software maker's stock worth $565,953,000 after acquiring an additional 202,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 8.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,106,259 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $491,528,000 after purchasing an additional 389,718 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet 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 directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $110.00 to $78.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.40.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $2.67 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.09. 15,005,711 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,522,214. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $98.33 and a 200-day moving average of $100.62.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.