71,687 Shares in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Acquired by NWK Group Inc.

Key Points

• NWK Group Inc. recently acquired 71,687 shares of Fortinet, Inc., valued at approximately $6.9 million, making it around 3.2% of NWK's portfolio.
• Fortinet's stock saw insider activity, with Director William H. Neukom buying 335 shares, while CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares, indicating varying confidence levels among executives.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Fortinet, with price targets being adjusted downwards by several firms, resulting in a current consensus rating of "Hold" with a target price of $97.93.

NWK Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 71,687 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $6,901,000. Fortinet makes up about 3.2% of NWK Group Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 40.8% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock worth $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 16,139 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 18.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,928,000 after buying an additional 3,189 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $74.57. The stock had a trading volume of 13,414,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,194,840. The business's fifty day moving average is $101.76 and its 200-day moving average is $101.65. 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 firm has a market cap of $57.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.40 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 company's revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Cowen cut shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.