Acadian Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 3.2%, selling 92,944 shares and currently owns about 0.37% of the company worth approximately $269 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have made significant changes to their positions in Fortinet, with SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increasing its stake by 703.1% during the first quarter.
• Several analysts have downgraded Fortinet's stock, with Barclays lowering its price target from $110 to $90 while maintaining an "equal weight" rating.

Acadian Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,798,551 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 92,944 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned about 0.37% of Fortinet worth $269,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% in 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 period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,016,467 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $675,405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,277 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,519,558 shares of the software maker's stock worth $627,573,000 after acquiring an additional 49,238 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position 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. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 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 transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $67.00 price target (down from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Cowen lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.03.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.83 during trading on Monday, reaching $80.51. 2,640,028 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,604,448. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.78. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.69 billion, a PE ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current 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.