Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Acquired by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 3.5% in Q1, acquiring an additional 34,202 shares, which brings its total to 1,023,919 shares valued at approximately $98.56 million.
• Fortinet reported Q2 earnings of $0.64 earnings per share, surpassing forecasts, and experienced a 13.6% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $1.63 billion.
• Insider transactions included CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie selling significant amounts of shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership positions while insiders collectively own 17.20% of the company.

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,023,919 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 34,202 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.13% of Fortinet worth $98,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Fortinet by 38.4% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $908,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 40.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,650,000 after buying an additional 38,080 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Fortinet by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $11,763,000 after buying an additional 16,139 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company'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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $0.52 on Tuesday, hitting $79.84. 4,476,993 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,620,410. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $91.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $97.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Fortinet Company 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.