Northern Trust Corp Buys 49,238 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp increased its ownership in Fortinet by 0.8% during the first quarter, now holding over 6.5 million shares worth approximately $627.6 million.
• Several analyst firms downgraded Fortinet from "buy" to "hold," with target price reductions, reflecting a cautious outlook on the stock.
• Fortinet reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.64, surpassing analyst expectations, with a revenue increase of 13.6% year-over-year.

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,519,558 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 49,238 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.85% of Fortinet worth $627,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in Fortinet by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,364 shares of the software maker's stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares during the last quarter. FCG Investment Co bought a new position in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,462,000. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC now owns 10,212 shares of the software maker's stock worth $983,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Corient IA LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $674,000. Finally, LeConte Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $243,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded up $2.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.02. 6,171,431 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,984,843. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.12 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The company has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $96.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.12.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

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 value of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Erste Group Bank lowered Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. TD Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.40.

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.