Western Financial Corp CA Buys Shares of 18,734 Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Western Financial Corp CA has acquired 18,734 shares of Fortinet, Inc., valued at approximately $1.98 million, making it the 26th largest holding in its portfolio.
• Analysts have recently downgraded Fortinet's stock ratings, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.03.
• Insider transactions revealed significant sales by VP Michael Xie and CEO Ken Xie, totaling over $62 million in stock sold on August 4th.

Western Financial Corp CA bought a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 18,734 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $1,981,000. Fortinet accounts for 1.1% of Western Financial Corp CA's holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 40.7% in the 1st 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 grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,885 shares in the last quarter. Gould Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $908,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $12,650,000 after purchasing an additional 38,080 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $85.00 price target (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Mizuho cut their target price on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research 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 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $97.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 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 $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 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 value of $15,607,701.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 insiders.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of FTNT opened at $84.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.61 billion, a PE ratio of 33.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $85.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.46.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share 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.

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