Empowered Funds LLC Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. by 35.0%, owning a total of 331,121 shares valued at approximately $31.87 million.
• Fortinet reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.64, surpassing expectations of $0.59, and demonstrated a 13.6% revenue increase year-over-year.
• Institutional investors collectively own 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, and there are varied ratings from analysts, with most assigning a "Hold" rating and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 35.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 331,121 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 85,787 shares during the period. Fortinet comprises 0.5% of Empowered Funds LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $31,874,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Peloton Wealth Strategists grew its holdings in Fortinet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 4,330 shares of the software maker's stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in Fortinet by 16.6% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 752 shares of the software maker's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Fortinet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,334 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,285 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,530,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 47.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's 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 owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.5%

NASDAQ FTNT traded down $1.21 on Friday, reaching $79.68. 4,424,982 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,074,259. The business's fifty day moving average price is $89.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.13. 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 fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on FTNT shares. Cowen lowered Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their target price on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently 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.