Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Holdings Lifted by Aberdeen Group plc

Aberdeen Group plc grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 513,112 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,015 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc owned approximately 0.07% of Fortinet worth $54,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,898,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,546,934 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 40.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,971,648 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $561,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,670 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth about $153,576,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,016,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $675,405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in Fortinet by 127.6% in the 1st quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,496,339 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $144,038,000 after purchasing an additional 839,028 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $83.06 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $81.72 and a 200-day moving average of $94.55. The company has a market capitalization of $63.64 billion, a PE ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on FTNT shares. KeyCorp cut shares of Fortinet from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $67.00 price objective (down previously from $78.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.03.

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.