Norinchukin Bank The Buys 17,346 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Norinchukin Bank has increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 49% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 17,346 shares, bringing their total holdings to 52,711 shares valued at approximately $5.07 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group and Goldman Sachs, have also raised their positions in Fortinet during the same period, indicating strong interest from the financial sector, with 83.71% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.64 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations, and achieved a revenue growth of 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year, cementing its strong performance in the cybersecurity sector.

Norinchukin Bank The increased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 49.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,711 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 17,346 shares during the quarter. Norinchukin Bank The's holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,570,528 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $824,999,000 after purchasing an additional 181,835 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,519,558 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $627,573,000 after purchasing an additional 49,238 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,990,190 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $565,953,000 after purchasing an additional 202,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,106,259 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $491,528,000 after purchasing an additional 389,718 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.40.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $77.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $97.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.31. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $59.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share 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 company's 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 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm'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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is 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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