Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) VP Michael Xie Sells 476,596 Shares

Key Points

• Fortinet's VP, Michael Xie, sold 476,596 shares of the company stock for approximately $46.9 million, reducing his ownership by 4.67%.
• Following the share sale, Fortinet's stock traded down $2.34, closing at $96.21, with a market cap of $73.64 billion.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Fortinet, with one sell rating, twenty hold ratings, and fourteen buy ratings, along with an average price target of $107.00.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT traded down $2.34 on Tuesday, hitting $96.21. 4,032,512 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,747,782. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.19 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.07. The business's fifty day moving average is $103.17 and its 200 day moving average is $101.96.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTNT has been the topic of several research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $123.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $107.00.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,531,705 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $617,115,000 after purchasing an additional 2,846,475 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Fortinet by 72.6% during the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,906,439 shares of the software maker's stock worth $463,561,000 after buying an additional 2,064,016 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,388,693 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $792,564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 11,349.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,927,607 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $185,551,000 after buying an additional 1,910,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

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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