Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Has $16.13 Million Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 359.0% in the first quarter, owning 167,542 shares valued at approximately $16.13 million.
• Insiders, including VP Michael Xie and CEO Ken Xie, sold significant shares of Fortinet stock, with sales amounting to over $62 million on August 4th.
• Fortinet's stock is currently rated as a consensus "Hold" by analysts, with a target price averaging $97.93 following mixed reports on the company's financial performance.

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. raised its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 359.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 167,542 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 131,037 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $16,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. OneAscent Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth about $360,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,450,338 shares of the software maker's stock worth $235,870,000 after purchasing an additional 19,174 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 188,580 shares of the software maker's stock worth $18,153,000 after purchasing an additional 51,400 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 72,966 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,024,000 after purchasing an additional 4,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 47.8% in the 1st quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 32,779 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,155,000 after purchasing an additional 10,608 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock traded up $1.86 during trading on Friday, hitting $79.11. 10,860,686 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,724,086. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $60.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $100.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction 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 $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business'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 directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.