Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC cut its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 18.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 115,841 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 26,721 shares during the quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $12,247,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 41.4% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 355 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at $36,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This trade represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT stock opened at $84.66 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $81.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.97. The company has a market capitalization of $64.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.73, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus 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.