Mizuho Securities USA LLC Lowers Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lowered its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 15.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,937 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 9,356 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $4,903,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 5.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,898,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,546,934 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,470,320 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $611,316,000 after purchasing an additional 951,233 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,990,190 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $565,953,000 after purchasing an additional 202,259 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 8.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,106,259 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $491,528,000 after buying an additional 389,718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Fortinet by 5.4% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,464,326 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $429,736,000 after buying an additional 229,838 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $74.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.64, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $101.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.62. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $67.97 and a 12 month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.93.

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.