Caxton Associates LLP Buys New Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP invested approximately $2.74 million in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT), acquiring 28,510 shares in the first quarter of 2023.
• Institutional investors own 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, with notable increases in holdings by Vanguard Group and GAMMA Investing LLC.
• Fortinet's recent earnings report showed a 13.6% increase in revenue year-over-year, with an EPS of $0.64, outperforming analyst expectations.

Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 28,510 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,744,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Fortinet by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $908,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock worth $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $11,763,000 after buying an additional 16,139 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.03.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $79.68. 4,424,982 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,396,253. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $89.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.93. The company has a market capitalization of $61.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.12. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released 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. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.Fortinet's revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet 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 sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

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.