Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Sells 28,800 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. sold 28,800 shares of Fortinet, Inc., reducing its position by 5.4%, resulting in ownership of 505,590 shares valued at approximately $48.67 million.
• Multiple institutional investors including Vanguard Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs increased their holdings in Fortinet, with overall institutional ownership now at 83.71% of the company’s stock.
• Analysts have recently adjusted their price targets for Fortinet, with averages ranging from $67.00 to $110.00, indicating a generally cautious outlook with ratings mostly at "Hold".

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 505,590 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 28,800 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.07% of Fortinet worth $48,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its position in Fortinet by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 105,195 shares of the software maker's stock worth $10,127,000 after buying an additional 8,890 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at about $326,000. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 69.0% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 30,662 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,952,000 after purchasing an additional 12,516 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Fortinet by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 715,969 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $68,919,000 after buying an additional 29,255 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded up $2.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $78.83. The company had a trading volume of 10,495,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,263,326. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $60.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.89.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 target price (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated 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 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. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.