AlphaQuest LLC Lowers Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC significantly reduced its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. by 65.8%, owning 3,245 shares valued at $312,000 after selling 6,250 shares in the 1st quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in Fortinet during the same period, with RPG Investment Advisory LLC boosting its ownership by 99.6%.
• Fortinet's stock price opened at $79.29, with analysts adjusting their price targets downward; UBS Group set a new target of $90.00 while maintaining a "neutral" rating.

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 65.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,245 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 6,250 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 16.6% in the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 752 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.9% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,334 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,285 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,530,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 37.3% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 412 shares of the software maker's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.40.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $78.77. 4,456,207 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,639,722. The stock has a market cap of $60.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.07. The stock's 50-day moving average is $94.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.10. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

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

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.