Zhang Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Zhang Financial LLC grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,431 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $576,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cito Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $660,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,693,000 after acquiring an additional 34,582 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in Fortinet by 2,092.4% during the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 40,603 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,411,000 after buying an additional 38,751 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation boosted its stake in Fortinet by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 748,784 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,478,000 after buying an additional 94,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 12.5% during the third quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 63,788 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,743,000 after buying an additional 7,110 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,992 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.75, for a total transaction of $1,553,482.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,660,648 shares in the company, valued at $3,150,776,958. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,396 shares of company stock valued at $4,838,534 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.10.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,047,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,978,695. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal 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.