Arizona State Retirement System Buys 4,479 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 191,050 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 4,479 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Fortinet were worth $18,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTNT. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $724,048,000. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $389,867,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 77.2% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,531,705 shares of the software maker's stock worth $617,115,000 after buying an additional 2,846,475 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker's stock worth $720,150,000 after buying an additional 2,151,811 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Fortinet by 72.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,906,439 shares of the software maker's stock worth $463,561,000 after buying an additional 2,064,016 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock traded up $2.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $105.02. 2,098,251 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,872,567. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $103.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $80.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.20, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $16,815,576.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,452,678,361.90. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total value of $376,266.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,167,217,215.48. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.14.

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.