Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Sold by Congress Asset Management Co.

Key Points

• Congress Asset Management Co. reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 3.2%, holding 263,660 shares valued at $27.87 million after selling 8,762 shares in the second quarter.
• Several large investors including Vanguard and GAMMA Investing have increased their stakes significantly in Fortinet during the first quarter, indicating increased institutional interest as 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• Fortinet reported a 13.6% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share of $0.64, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.59.

Congress Asset Management Co. lessened its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 263,660 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 8,762 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $27,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Fortinet by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,898,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Fortinet by 11,349.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,927,607 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $185,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910,771 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Fortinet by 40.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,971,648 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $561,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,670 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $153,576,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Fortinet by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,016,467 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $675,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,277 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $84.32 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $64.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.59, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.12. 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 twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.46.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm'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 value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction 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 $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FTNT. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 target price (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

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.

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