Pacer Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 39.8%, acquiring an additional 89,833 shares, bringing its total holdings to 315,408 shares valued at approximately $30.36 million.
• Multiple institutional investors, including Geode Capital Management and FMR LLC, also significantly increased their stakes in Fortinet during the fourth quarter, reflecting strong institutional interest.
• Fortinet reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.58 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, and its revenue grew by 13.8% year-over-year, reaching $1.54 billion.

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 39.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 315,408 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 89,833 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $30,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 0.4% in the first quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,285 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,530,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 37.3% in the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 412 shares of the software maker's stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.3% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Enterprises LLC now owns 5,018 shares of the software maker's stock worth $483,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 9,390 shares of the software maker's stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $106.48.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $104.82. 2,087,821 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,793,362. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $103.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.65. The company has a market cap of $80.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.14, a PEG ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 148.79% and a net margin of 30.60%. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $16,815,576.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. 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 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.