Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Cuts Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd reduced its stake in Fortinet by 22.7% in the first quarter, now holding 55,072 shares worth approximately $5.3 million.
• Fortinet's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations with $0.58 EPS against a consensus of $0.53, and its revenue remained stable at $1.54 billion, reflecting a 13.8% year-over-year increase.
• Insider trading activity shows CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares for about $16.8 million, but continues to hold over 51 million shares of the company.

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd decreased its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 22.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,072 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 16,218 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd's holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Fortinet from $122.00 to $110.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.00.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $16,815,576.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $3.06 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $101.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,323,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,550,488. 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 company has a market cap of $77.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.74.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current 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.