Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Sold by Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.

Key Points

• Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Fortinet by 5.5%, selling 9,882 shares to hold a total of 168,686 shares, which make up about 2.3% of their portfolio.
• Insider trading includes VP Michael Xie and CEO Ken Xie selling 3,546 and 158,488 shares respectively, indicative of changes in their ownership stakes.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Fortinet, with price targets ranging from $95 to $113, reflecting varying outlooks on the stock amidst an average price target of $106.48.

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 168,686 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 9,882 shares during the quarter. Fortinet comprises approximately 2.3% of Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $16,238,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,473,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 3,369 shares of the software maker's stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 281,070 shares of the software maker's stock worth $26,555,000 after purchasing an additional 58,924 shares during the period. Finally, FineMark National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 5,260 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total value of $376,266.06. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,167,217,215.48. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $16,815,576.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.48.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $104.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.19 billion, a PE ratio of 43.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.62 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $103.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.51.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 148.79% and a net margin of 30.60%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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