Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 44,155 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 21.8%, holding now 158,670 shares worth approximately $15.27 million after selling 44,155 shares in the first quarter.
• Fortinet's stock has been downgraded by multiple analysts, with price targets lowered significantly, leading to a general consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.97.
• Insider selling includes substantial transactions by VP Michael Xie and CEO Ken Xie, with the former selling over 476,000 shares valued at nearly $46.94 million, indicating potential confidence issues among executives.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 21.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 158,670 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 44,155 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $15,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,285 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,530,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 37.3% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 412 shares of the software maker's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Cornerstone Enterprises LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.3% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Enterprises LLC now owns 5,018 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $483,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 5.2% during the first quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 2,387 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley cut Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush dropped their price target on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.2%

FTNT stock traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.39. 17,001,530 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,194,551. The company has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.97 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock's fifty day moving average is $101.76 and its 200-day moving average is $101.62.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during 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 company's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

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.