Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Holdings Trimmed by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,485 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 546 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 156.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $554,945,000 after buying an additional 5,765,174 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,664,124 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $508,411,000 after buying an additional 108,548 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,595,608 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $328,350,000 after buying an additional 269,202 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,789,106 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $222,345,000 after buying an additional 153,119 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,926,924 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $171,313,000 after buying an additional 438,476 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the company’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 transaction, 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 the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,396 shares of company stock worth $4,838,534 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $61.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $46.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.07, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.28. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $81.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share 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.