Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 3,546,934 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 5.2%, acquiring a total of approximately 71.6 million shares valued at about $6.90 billion.
• Fortinet reported $0.64 EPS for its latest quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, and recorded a 13.6% revenue increase year-over-year.
• Various analysts have assigned different target prices for Fortinet, with a consensus target of $107.00, and the stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Hold."

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.37% of Fortinet worth $6,898,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 8.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,106,259 shares of the software maker's stock worth $491,528,000 after buying an additional 389,718 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 128.2% during the first quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,340 shares of the software maker's stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.5% during the first quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,838 shares of the software maker's stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 262.8% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the software maker's stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 917 shares during the period. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth approximately $51,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $74.39. The company had a trading volume of 17,001,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,194,551. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $101.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.33. The company has a market capitalization of $56.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.97 and a 12-month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $97.93.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought 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 directly owned 301,471 shares in the company, valued at $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 company 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.