Meritage Portfolio Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 26.5%, now holding 248,436 shares worth approximately $26.3 million, making Fortinet the firm's 7th largest holding.
• Institutional ownership of Fortinet is high, with 83.71% of the stock held by institutional investors, as several firms have recently adjusted their stakes.
• Fortinet reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.64, exceeding analysts' estimates and reflecting a 13.6% revenue increase year-over-year.

Meritage Portfolio Management cut its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,436 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 89,442 shares during the period. Fortinet accounts for 1.7% of Meritage Portfolio Management's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Fortinet were worth $26,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet 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 sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, 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. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen cut shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.03.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $83.06 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.55. The stock has a market cap of $63.64 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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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