Cwm LLC Boosts Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Cwm LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 6.7%, owning a total of 142,127 shares valued at approximately $15 million.
• Fortinet's stock faced several target price cuts from analysts, with Morgan Stanley setting a target of $67.00 and a consensus rating of "Hold."
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by VP Michael Xie and CEO Ken Xie, reducing their ownership stake by 4.67% and 0.31%, respectively.

Cwm LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 142,127 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 8,933 shares during the period. Cwm LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $15,026,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Board of the Pension Protection Fund raised its holdings in Fortinet by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Board of the Pension Protection Fund now owns 2,300 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 18.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 120,360 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,725,000 after purchasing an additional 18,407 shares in the last quarter. waypoint wealth counsel increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 62.6% in the second quarter. waypoint wealth counsel now owns 4,103 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,579 shares during the last quarter. 1858 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth approximately $257,000. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in Fortinet by 13.2% during the second quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 851 shares of the software maker's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Cowen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.03.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $84.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $64.52 billion, a PE ratio of 33.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.09. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.43.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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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