Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super Purchases 372,376 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Aware Super Pty Ltd significantly increased its investment in Fortinet, Inc. by acquiring an additional 372,376 shares, raising its stake by 90.7% to a total of 782,771 shares.
• Despite Aware Super's large purchase, Fortinet's recent stock performance has led to price target reductions by several analysts, with estimates ranging from $78.00 to $105.00.
• The company reported a year-over-year 13.6% revenue increase for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, alongside earnings of $0.64 per share.

Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super raised its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 90.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 782,771 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 372,376 shares during the quarter. Fortinet comprises approximately 1.2% of Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super owned approximately 0.10% of Fortinet worth $79,232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $585,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 18.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,739 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 40.8% in the first 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.6%

Fortinet stock opened at $83.58 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.09. The business's fifty day moving average is $80.91 and its 200 day moving average is $94.28.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. 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 dated 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 directly 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. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.03.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.