MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 3,431 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Fortinet by 1.8% by selling 3,431 shares, leaving them with 187,555 shares valued at approximately $18.05 million.
• Fortinet's stock has risen 2.9%, with current trading around $80.02, despite analysts adjusting their price targets downward, with a consensus target of $97.40.
• In the most recent earnings report, Fortinet surpassed expectations with earnings of $0.64 per share and revenue of $1.63 billion, reflecting a 13.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,555 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 3,431 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $18,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 5.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 11,349.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,927,607 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $185,551,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,771 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $153,576,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,470,320 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $611,316,000 after acquiring an additional 951,233 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 127.6% in the first quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,496,339 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $144,038,000 after acquiring an additional 839,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $80.02 on Monday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $96.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $61.32 billion, a PE ratio of 31.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.07. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.40.

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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