Manhattan West Asset Management LLC Acquires 6,202 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Manhattan West Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 17.1%, holding 42,414 shares valued at approximately $4.08 million.
• Insider transactions included CEO Ken Xie selling 158,486 shares for approximately $15.6 million, reducing his ownership by 0.31%.
• A recent earnings report showed Fortinet achieved $0.64 EPS, surpassing analyst expectations, with revenues of $1.63 billion, reflecting a 13.6% year-over-year growth.

Manhattan West Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,414 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 6,202 shares during the quarter. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $4,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its holdings in Fortinet by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 40.8% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock worth $12,650,000 after purchasing an additional 38,080 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $11,763,000 after buying an additional 16,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,928,000 after buying an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.39. 17,001,530 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,194,551. The firm has a market cap of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $101.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.62. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.97 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet 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 $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.