Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $2.84 Million Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in Fortinet by 12.5%, owning 29,505 shares valued at approximately $2.84 million after selling 4,198 shares.
• Fortinet's stock has fluctuations with a twelve-month low of $67.97 and a high of $114.82, and it currently has a market cap of $56.94 billion.
• Recent quarterly earnings showed Fortinet reporting $0.64 EPS, exceeding estimates, with revenue growth of 13.6% year-over-year.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 12.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,505 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 4,198 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Fortinet were worth $2,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in Fortinet by 703.1% during the first 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. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% during 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 last quarter. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. TD Cowen reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 5.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $3.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $78.47. 6,983,025 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,204,890. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.65 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $101.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.49. The company has a market capitalization of $60.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.07.

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