Voya Investment Management LLC Buys 78,012 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Voya Investment Management LLC increased its ownership in Fortinet by 3.6% in Q1, holding 2,223,642 shares valued at $214.05 million.
• The average analyst rating for Fortinet is currently "Hold", with a price target of $97.03, following multiple changes in ratings from research firms.
• Insider sales occurred, with CEO Ken Xie selling 158,486 shares for approximately $15.6 million, indicating a minor decrease in ownership.

Voya Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,223,642 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 78,012 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.29% of Fortinet worth $214,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 40.7% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 73,186 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,045,000 after purchasing an additional 21,177 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 38.4% in the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker's stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $908,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter worth $216,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 40.8% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Cowen downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, August 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $97.03.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of FTNT stock traded down $1.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $79.68. 4,424,982 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,074,259. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $89.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $96.78. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $61.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.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 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

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.