Westover Capital Advisors LLC Takes $879,000 Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Key Points

• Westover Capital Advisors LLC has purchased a new stake in Fortinet, Inc., acquiring 9,132 shares valued at approximately $879,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their holdings in Fortinet, with hedge funds now owning 83.71% of the company's stock.
• Fortinet reported earnings of $0.58 EPS for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $1.54 billion which reflects a growth of 13.8% year-over-year.

Westover Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,132 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $879,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. grew its position in Fortinet by 18.3% during the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 3,369 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $318,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 281,070 shares of the software maker's stock worth $26,555,000 after acquiring an additional 58,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FineMark National Bank & Trust increased its stake in Fortinet by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 5,260 shares of the software maker's stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $122.00 to $110.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Fortinet from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $106.48.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total transaction of $376,266.06. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,488 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.10, for a total value of $16,815,576.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,452,678,361.90. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $104.77 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company's 50-day moving average price is $103.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.51. The stock has a market cap of $80.19 billion, a PE ratio of 43.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 148.79% and a net margin of 30.60%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Fortinet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal 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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