Kestra Advisory Services LLC Trims Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Kestra Advisory Services LLC has reduced its holdings in Fortinet by 54.3% during the first quarter, now owning 30,010 shares worth approximately $2.89 million.
• CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie both sold significant shares of Fortinet on August 4th, with total transactions amounting to over $62 million.
• Fortinet's stock was recently rated as "neutral" by several analysts, with adjusted price targets ranging from $78.00 to $110.00, reflecting concerns about future growth.

Kestra Advisory Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 54.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 30,010 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 35,697 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $2,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after buying an additional 3,546,934 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $185,551,000 after buying an additional 1,910,771 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at about $153,576,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 127.6% in the 1st quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,496,339 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $144,038,000 after purchasing an additional 839,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 57.2% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,211,113 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $212,842,000 after purchasing an additional 804,373 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.52 on Monday, reaching $78.77. The stock had a trading volume of 4,456,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,627,166. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.69 and a 200 day moving average of $99.03. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $114.82.

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 for 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Cowen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp downgraded Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.40.

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.