KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Raises Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS significantly increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 52.7%, acquiring an additional 132,700 shares during the second quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and AQR Capital Management LLC, have also raised their positions in Fortinet, with hedge funds owning 83.71% of the company's stock.
• Fortinet recently reported $1.63 billion in revenue for the quarter and $0.64 earnings per share, beating analysts' expectations and demonstrating a 13.6% year-over-year revenue increase.

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS boosted its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 52.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 384,500 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 132,700 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned approximately 0.05% of Fortinet worth $40,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,898,223,000 after buying an additional 3,546,934 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 40.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,971,648 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $561,156,000 after buying an additional 1,733,670 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at about $153,576,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,016,467 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $675,405,000 after buying an additional 1,026,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Fortinet by 127.6% in the 1st quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,496,339 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $144,038,000 after buying an additional 839,028 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $67.00 price target (down previously from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.03.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $86.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $66.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.95.

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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Fortinet's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.00% 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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