Kentucky Retirement Systems Trims Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 5.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,403 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 2,593 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 664.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,400,215,000 after purchasing an additional 30,542,551 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter worth about $120,746,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 102.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,284,203 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $224,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 223.6% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,366,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $79,979,000 after acquiring an additional 944,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $57.00. 4,244,996 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,748,436. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.12 and a 52-week high of $78.58. The company has a market cap of $43.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.86.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total value of $1,442,709.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,742,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,901,640,012.99. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,235 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.53, for a total value of $1,442,709.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,742,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,901,640,012.99. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 91,913 shares of company stock worth $5,608,349. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. HSBC decreased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.90.

About Fortinet

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.