Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 103,702 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 690,213 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 103,702 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $41,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Winthrop Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total value of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,842,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total value of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,842,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 18,701 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total value of $1,116,075.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,663 shares in the company, valued at $278,287.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 115,608 shares of company stock worth $7,132,649. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Fortinet from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup raised their price target on Fortinet from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Fortinet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Twenty-four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.31.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $76.71 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $77.18. The company’s 50 day moving average is $64.06 and its 200 day moving average is $64.53. The company has a market cap of $58.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.98.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.47 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.