Strs Ohio Buys New Shares in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc., purchasing 151,954 shares valued at approximately $14.6 million in the first quarter.
• Corporate insiders, including the VP and CEO, sold large quantities of shares on August 4th, indicating a 4.67% decrease in the VP's position and a 0.31% decrease for the CEO.
• Fortinet's stock recently closed at $79.68, with analysts lowering target prices significantly, many settling around $85.00 while maintaining a consensus rating of "Hold".

Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 151,954 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $14,627,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price target (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.03.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.5%

FTNT traded down $1.22 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $79.78. The stock had a trading volume of 5,583,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,626,061. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $89.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.59. 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 $61.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.12. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

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