Conning Inc. Cuts Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Conning Inc. cut its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,756 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter worth $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter worth $35,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $83.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $81.72 and its 200 day moving average is $94.55. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $67.00 target price (down from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.03.

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.