LGT Group Foundation Lowers Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• LGT Group Foundation cut its stake in Fortinet by 36.1%, owning 510,788 shares valued at approximately $49.17 million after selling 288,442 shares.
• Several institutional investors, including Prudential PLC and Russell Investments Group Ltd., increased their holdings in Fortinet significantly, indicating a strong interest in the company's stock among hedge funds.
• Fortinet's CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie both sold a substantial number of shares, with Xie's sale worth over $15.6 million, raising potential concerns about insider sentiment.

LGT Group Foundation lowered its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 36.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 510,788 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 288,442 shares during the period. LGT Group Foundation owned about 0.07% of Fortinet worth $49,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Fortinet by 703.1% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the acquisition, the director 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Fortinet Trading Down 2.6%

FTNT traded down $2.08 during trading on Thursday, hitting $77.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,805,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,306,972. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $99.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $59.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.78, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. Fortinet's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

About Fortinet

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.