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

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)’s share 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 trading hands.

Specifically, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FTNT. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.68.

Fortinet Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price 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 firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 129,130 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,577,000 after buying an additional 8,402 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 26.6% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 5,717 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 5.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 123,042 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,220,000 after purchasing an additional 6,815 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden grew 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. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $64,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently 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.