VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Virginia Retirement Systems ET Al has acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc., purchasing 444,547 shares valued at approximately $46.99 million during the second quarter.
• Insider sales were noted as VP Michael Xie and CEO Ken Xie sold significant shares on August 4, decreasing their positions by 4.67% and 0.31% respectively.
• Fortinet's quarterly revenue showed a 13.6% year-over-year increase, reporting $1.63 billion for the quarter and exceeding consensus EPS estimates.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 444,547 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $46,998,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned approximately 0.06% of Fortinet at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 41.4% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 355 shares of the software maker's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the company'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 $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $83.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $63.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.24, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $81.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.07.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Cowen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wedbush dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

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.

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