Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 3,736 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 9.2%, holding 36,846 shares worth approximately $3.5 million after selling 3,736 shares in Q1.
• CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie both sold significant portions of their holdings on August 4th, with total transactions exceeding $62 million.
• Fortinet's latest earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.64, surpassing the expected $0.59, with revenues of $1.63 billion for the quarter, reflecting a 13.6% year-over-year increase.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 9.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,846 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 3,736 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $585,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 112.9% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 24,799 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,343,000 after purchasing an additional 216,537 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 41,696 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,939,000 after purchasing an additional 10,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 81,486 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,699,000 after purchasing an additional 8,081 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on FTNT shares. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. DZ Bank raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT traded down $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $79.68. 4,424,982 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,074,259. The company has a market cap of $61.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.13. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $96.78. 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 (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Fortinet's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

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.