State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 8.6%, now holding 219,288 shares valued at approximately $21.11 million.
• Several other institutional investors have adjusted their positions in Fortinet, with NewEdge Advisors increasing their stake by 50.5% during the fourth quarter.
• Fortinet's recent quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.64, exceeding expectations, while the company's revenue showed a 13.6% increase compared to the previous year.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 219,288 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 20,716 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Fortinet were worth $21,109,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in Fortinet by 38.4% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter valued at about $216,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted 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 valued at $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position 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 last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,025 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,928,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on FTNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.40.

Fortinet Stock Down 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $2.67 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $78.09. 15,005,711 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,504,260. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $59.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $98.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet 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.