Stephens Inc. AR Acquires 32,294 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 540.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,265 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 32,294 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded down $1.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $103.44. 3,509,297 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,881,913. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $102.99 and a 200 day moving average of $101.11. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a market capitalization of $79.18 billion, a PE ratio of 42.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 148.79% and a net margin of 30.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on FTNT. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.48.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total transaction of $376,266.06. Following the sale, the vice president owned 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,167,217,215.48. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet 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.