Nuveen LLC Invests $153.58 Million in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC took a new position in Fortinet, Inc. by acquiring 1,595,432 shares valued at approximately $153.58 million, representing about 0.21% of the company's stock.
• Institutional investors collectively own 83.71% of Fortinet's stock, with a range of recent changes to their holdings reported.
• Fortinet's shares experienced several target price reductions by analysts, with a current average target price of $97.93 and a consensus rating of "Hold."

Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,595,432 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $153,576,000. Nuveen LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Fortinet at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 38.4% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 40.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 124,501 shares of the software maker's stock worth $11,763,000 after buying an additional 16,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,928,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,419,307.62. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the company'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 transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $79.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,854,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,372,063. The stock's 50-day moving average is $99.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.64 billion, a PE ratio of 31.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Fortinet's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current 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.