Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Key Points

• Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 20.8%, owning 128,955 shares worth $12.4 million after selling 33,772 shares in the first quarter.
• Fortinet's CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares for approximately $15.6 million, which represents a 0.31% decrease in his ownership stake.
• Several analysts downgraded Fortinet's stock from "buy" to "hold," leading to a current consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $97.93.

Quantbot Technologies LP lessened its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 20.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 128,955 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 33,772 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP's holdings in Fortinet were worth $12,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Korea Investment CORP boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 4.5% during the first quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 474,569 shares of the software maker's stock worth $45,682,000 after buying an additional 20,639 shares during the period. Qtron Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Qtron Investments LLC now owns 11,110 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,069,000 after buying an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Family Trust lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 36.7% during the 1st quarter. Alpha Family Trust now owns 5,120 shares of the software maker's stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 41.2% during the 1st quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,894 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 3,178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,519,558 shares of the software maker's stock worth $627,573,000 after purchasing an additional 49,238 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTNT. Erste Group Bank downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Cowen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm'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 $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company'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 $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $79.11 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $99.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.91. The company has a market cap of $60.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The business's revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast 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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