Blair William & Co. IL Buys 1,538 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 225,350 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,538 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $13,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 664.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,400,215,000 after acquiring an additional 30,542,551 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth about $548,013,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $203,501,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Fortinet by 94.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,755,599 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $346,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $120,746,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of FTNT opened at $75.66 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $78.08. The stock has a market cap of $57.80 billion, a PE ratio of 49.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.14.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 23.71% and a negative return on equity of 2,160.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at $608,626,179.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,731,010.58. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,842,522 shares in the company, valued at $3,568,434,657.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,210 shares of company stock worth $6,337,801 in the last ninety days. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Susquehanna upped their price target on Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.57.

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.