Groupe la Francaise Grows Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 19.8%, acquiring an additional 9,032 shares, bringing its total holding to 54,751 shares valued at approximately $5.45 million.
• A number of institutional investors, including Hemington Wealth Management and ORG Partners LLC, also increased their holdings in Fortinet during the same quarter, reflecting a broader trend among hedge funds.
• Analysts have lowered their price targets for Fortinet, with Barclays and Morgan Stanley reducing theirs to $90.00 and $78.00 respectively, amidst a consensus average price target of $97.40.

Groupe la Francaise raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 19.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,751 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 9,032 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in 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. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $2.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $77.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,261,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,189,230. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.12 and a 52 week high of $114.82. 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 company has a market capitalization of $59.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.07. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $96.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.88.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was purchased 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 $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.