QRG Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 51.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,854 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 20,348 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Fortinet by 703.1% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA bought a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,452,678,361.90. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total value of $376,266.06. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,167,217,215.48. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $2.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $100.82. 4,336,732 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,959,031. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $77.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.49, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.06. The company's 50 day moving average price is $101.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.25.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 148.79%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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.