Cetera Investment Advisers Takes $14.80 Million Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers acquired 153,794 shares of Fortinet, Inc., valued at approximately $14.8 million, during the first quarter of the year.
• Fortinet reported a Q1 EPS of $0.58, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.53, with revenue growth of 13.8% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors hold 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, reflecting significant confidence in the company's cybersecurity solutions.

Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 153,794 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $14,804,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in Fortinet by 38.4% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 1,885 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter worth about $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 40.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock worth $12,650,000 after buying an additional 38,080 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Fortinet by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,763,000 after buying an additional 16,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 18.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,928,000 after buying an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $1.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $99.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,307,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,629,336. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $76.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on FTNT. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. DZ Bank raised Fortinet from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $107.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $16,815,576.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,452,678,361.90. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.