Versor Investments LP Lowers Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP has reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. by 62.1%, selling 17,859 shares and now holds 10,906 shares valued at approximately $1,050,000.
• Other major hedge funds have made adjustments to their positions, with Vanguard Group Inc. increasing its holdings by 5.2%, now owning over 71.6 million shares valued at nearly $6.9 billion.
• Fortinet's stock has faced mixed reviews, with analysts giving it an average rating of "Hold" and a target price of $97.93, while recent reports include downgrades and reduced price targets from various firms.

Versor Investments LP trimmed its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 62.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,906 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 17,859 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP's holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,050,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,176 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,473,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,481 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,974,000 after acquiring an additional 10,562 shares in the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,751 shares of the software maker's stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 6th. The shares were purchased 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 of the company's stock, valued at $31,419,307.62. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 12th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to a "reduce" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $110.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.40.

Fortinet Stock Down 3.3%

FTNT stock traded down $2.67 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $78.09. 15,005,711 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,522,214. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $98.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $100.77.

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