Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Acquires New Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Banque Cantonale Vaudoise has acquired a new position in Fortinet, Inc., purchasing 77,445 shares valued at approximately $7.45 million in the first quarter.
• Multiple hedge funds have also engaged in significant transactions, with institutional investors owning 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, indicating strong investor interest.
• Analysts are divided on Fortinet's future, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.00, reflecting varied views on the stock's performance.

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 77,445 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $7,455,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Roth Capital set a $103.00 target price on Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total transaction of $376,266.06. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 11,000,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT opened at $104.88 on Tuesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market cap of $80.28 billion, a PE ratio of 43.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.06. The business's 50 day moving average is $103.48 and its 200-day moving average is $101.72.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 148.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share 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.

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