Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires Shares of 140,468 Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 140,468 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $8,222,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 129,130 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,402 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in Fortinet by 26.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,717 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 123,042 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,220,000 after acquiring an additional 6,815 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 321,490 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $18,865,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 134,600 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FTNT. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. DZ Bank cut shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

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

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

FTNT opened at $58.88 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The company has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Fortinet 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.