J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Buys 19,881 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 7.5% after acquiring 19,881 shares, bringing its total holdings to 285,101 shares valued at approximately $30.14 million.
• Fortinet's stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" from analysts, with a consensus price target of $97.03, following several price target reductions from brokerages in recent reports.
• The company's most recent earnings report showed an EPS of $0.64, exceeding estimates, with quarterly revenue increasing by 13.6% year-over-year.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 285,101 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 19,881 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Fortinet were worth $30,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dover Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 9,451 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists grew its stake in Fortinet by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 4,330 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $417,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in Fortinet by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 752 shares of the software maker's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on FTNT. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen cut shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down previously from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report 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 given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $85.18 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $65.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the company's 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.

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