IFP Advisors Inc Trims Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• IFP Advisors Inc reduced its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter, now owning 64,807 shares valued at approximately $6.85 million.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.64 per share for its last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 13.6%.
• Recent analyst ratings for Fortinet have been cautious, with price targets lowered by several firms, including a downgrade from Citigroup to $85.00, reflecting a shift in market sentiment.

IFP Advisors Inc reduced its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,807 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 11,518 shares during the quarter. IFP Advisors Inc's holdings in Fortinet were worth $6,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dover Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 9,451 shares of the software maker's stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Peloton Wealth Strategists boosted its position in Fortinet by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 4,330 shares of the software maker's stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Fortinet by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,852 shares of the software maker's stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Fortinet by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,841 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Fortinet by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 355 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $86.19 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $82.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.73. 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 twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a market capitalization of $66.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The firm's 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 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on FTNT shares. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

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.

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