Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $65.20, but opened at $61.86. Fortinet shares last traded at $61.08, with a volume of 4,444,724 shares traded.

Specifically, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Capital One Financial lowered Fortinet from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $86.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "neutral" rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.68.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $67.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 7.0% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 129,130 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $7,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,402 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 28.3% during the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 19,408 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,139,000 after acquiring an additional 4,284 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 26.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,717 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 10.3% in the third quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 4,421 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth approximately $1,034,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.