Stephens Inc. AR Sells 3,017 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter, selling 3,017 shares, leaving them with 35,248 shares valued at approximately $3.73 million.
• Significant activity among institutional investors was noted, with Vanguard increasing its stake by 5.2% and AQR Capital Management growing its position by 40.9% during the first quarter.
• Fortinet reported $1.63 billion in revenue and $0.64 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 13.6%.

Stephens Inc. AR lowered its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,248 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 3,017 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after buying an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 40.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,971,648 shares of the software maker's stock worth $561,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,670 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $153,576,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 17.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,016,467 shares of the software maker's stock worth $675,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,277 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $108,056,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.03.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $84.78 on Wednesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 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 firm has a market capitalization of $64.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.78, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.04.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. Fortinet's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FTNT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.