Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Holdings Raised by Ieq Capital LLC

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 39.5% in the first quarter, bringing their total holdings to 336,464 shares valued at approximately $32.39 million.
• Institutional investors own 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Fortinet reported a 13.6% year-over-year revenue increase and an EPS of $0.64, surpassing analyst expectations of $0.59 for the recent quarter.

Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 39.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 336,464 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 95,196 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $32,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,898,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 11,349.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,927,607 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $185,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,771 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at $153,576,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,470,320 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $611,316,000 after acquiring an additional 951,233 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 127.6% during the first quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,496,339 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $144,038,000 after acquiring an additional 839,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FTNT. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. DZ Bank raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Mizuho cut their target price on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 target price (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.40.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $78.77. 4,456,207 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,639,722. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two 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 firm has a market cap of $60.36 billion, a PE ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.10.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate 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.