Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Sold by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP has significantly reduced its stake in Fortinet, selling 505,754 shares and decreasing its holdings by 86.6%, which brings its ownership down to 78,022 shares valued at approximately $7.51 million.
• In the same quarter, some institutional investors increased their positions in Fortinet, with Hemington Wealth Management raising its holdings by 16.6%, while companies like ORG Partners LLC and Bogart Wealth LLC made notable increases of 47.5% and 37.3% respectively.
• Fortinet's recent financial performance shows an earnings beat with $0.64 per share reported, surpassing expectations, and a revenue increase of 13.6% compared to the previous year, with a consensus target price of $97.40 from analysts.

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 86.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,022 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 505,754 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in Fortinet were worth $7,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 12th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.40.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $0.52 on Monday, hitting $78.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,456,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,627,166. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a market capitalization of $60.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $94.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.03. 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 released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This represents a 0.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Fortinet

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.