Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Sells 3,086 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 30.1%, selling 3,086 shares and holding 7,173 shares worth $758,000 as of its last SEC filing.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds now control 83.71% of Fortinet's shares, with several firms increasing their positions significantly during the first quarter.
• Fortinet's recent earnings report showed a 13.6% year-over-year revenue increase and earnings per share of $0.64, outperforming analysts' expectations.

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,173 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 3,086 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $83.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $81.25 and a 200 day moving average of $94.10.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. KeyCorp downgraded Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, August 18th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.03.

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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