Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Sold by Palmer Knight Co

Key Points

• Palmer Knight Co reduced its stake in Fortinet by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter, owning 69,273 shares worth approximately $7.32 million after selling 24,359 shares.
• Institutional investors control 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, with notable increases in holdings from firms like Vanguard Group Inc and AQR Capital Management LLC.
• Wall Street analysts have set a consensus target price of $97.03 for Fortinet, with ratings varying from Strong Buy to Sell among analysts.

Palmer Knight Co lessened its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,273 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 24,359 shares during the quarter. Fortinet comprises about 3.1% of Palmer Knight Co's holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Palmer Knight Co's holdings in Fortinet were worth $7,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% in the first 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 last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 40.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,971,648 shares of the software maker's stock worth $561,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,733,670 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter worth $153,576,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 17.1% during the first 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 worth $675,405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter worth $108,056,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp cut Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, 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 transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 value of $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.4%

FTNT opened at $83.44 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $81.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Fortinet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.

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