Global Financial Private Client LLC Cuts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Global Financial Private Client LLC lessened its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 17.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,823 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 2,509 shares during the quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $724,048,000. Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $389,867,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 77.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,531,705 shares of the software maker's stock worth $617,115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,846,475 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker's stock worth $720,150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,906,439 shares of the software maker's stock worth $463,561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064,016 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Stephens began coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.32, for a total value of $99,320.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,047,183.84. This represents a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total value of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,981,414,831.47. The trade was a 0.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 697,818 shares of company stock valued at $69,539,128 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $102.02. 17,092,383 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,974,057. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.14, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. The business's 50-day moving average price is $99.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.48.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS 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.