Natixis Lowers Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Natixis lowered its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 47.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,555 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 93,651 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in Fortinet were worth $7,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 26.2% in the 4th quarter. CX Institutional now owns 5,371 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 162,534 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $9,513,000 after acquiring an additional 39,492 shares in the last quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 84.5% during the 4th quarter. Sendero Wealth Management LLC now owns 39,991 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,341,000 after buying an additional 18,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Access Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,246,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 18,701 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $278,287.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 91,913 shares of company stock valued at $5,608,349 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $57.31. 5,259,909 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,777,025. The company has a market capitalization of $43.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.84. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.12 and a 12-month high of $78.75.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FTNT. HSBC decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Fortinet from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays decreased their price target on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price target on Fortinet from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.90.

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.