Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Acquired by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG

Key Points

• B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 58.5%, acquiring an additional 16,003 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to 43,352 shares valued at approximately $4.17 million.
• Fortinet's stock reported a 0.6% increase, with the latest price opening at $78.13 and a market cap of $59.87 billion.
• CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock, while VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares, reflecting significant insider trading activity within the company.

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 58.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 43,352 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 16,003 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG's holdings in Fortinet were worth $4,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 32.4% during the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 19,257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 4,709 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 39.5% during the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 336,464 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $32,388,000 after purchasing an additional 95,196 shares during the period. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at $487,000. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at $11,096,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at $2,090,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm'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 $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Cowen lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.40.

Fortinet Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $78.77. 4,456,207 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,639,722. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $60.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.69 and a 200 day moving average of $99.10.

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