NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Sells 9,701 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 15.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,887 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 9,701 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FTNT. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 18,353.2% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 547,323 shares of the software maker's stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 544,357 shares during the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Fortinet by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,763,000 after acquiring an additional 16,139 shares during the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $234,000. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 1,665 shares of the software maker's stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares during the period. Finally, Cache Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $688,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total transaction of $16,815,576.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total transaction of $376,266.06. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FTNT. Stephens began coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $104.80.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $100.83. 3,422,968 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,973,035. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $101.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.10.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Fortinet

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.