Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 27.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,057 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 5,171 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $2,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 188.9% during the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $101.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 695,573 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,960,881. The stock has a market cap of $77.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $100.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTNT. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.80.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were bought at an average price of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 301,471 shares in the company, valued at $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. This represents 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 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.