National Bank of Canada FI Decreases Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 46.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 398,628 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 341,900 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.05% of Fortinet worth $27,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,052,487 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,648,665,000 after purchasing an additional 779,271 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,501,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Fortinet by 102.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,284,203 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $224,344,000 after buying an additional 1,662,156 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 0.9% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,953,153 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $201,730,000 after acquiring an additional 26,229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,628,691 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $153,875,000 after acquiring an additional 267,759 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $57.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,919,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,755,329. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.74 and a 200-day moving average of $63.88. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.12 and a 52-week high of $78.75.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on FTNT shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $1,456,262.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,777,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,927,125,412.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.55 per share, with a total value of $34,896.30. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 295,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,613,579.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,777,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,927,125,412.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 91,913 shares of company stock valued at $5,608,349. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.