Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 364,893 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 50.8% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 364,893 shares, which brings its total ownership to over 1 million shares valued at approximately $104.3 million.
• Multiple large investors also adjusted their stakes in Fortinet, with 83.71% of the stock being owned by institutional investors.
• Fortinet's stock opened at $78.47 and has shown significant activity, including a recent 5.2% increase in its stock price, along with a quarterly earnings report exceeding estimates with a profit of $0.64 EPS.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 50.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,082,988 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 364,893 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.14% of Fortinet worth $104,331,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in Fortinet by 38.4% during the 1st 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 acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 40.8% during the 1st 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 grew its holdings in Fortinet by 14.9% during the 4th 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 holdings in Fortinet by 18.9% during 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 currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock traded up $1.86 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $79.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,860,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,724,086. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $99.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.91. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $60.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm's revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on FTNT shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Barclays reduced their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 target price (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.93.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the acquisition, the director owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by 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.