Sarasin & Partners LLP Reduces Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Sarasin & Partners LLP lessened its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,930,897 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 232,196 shares during the period. Fortinet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Sarasin & Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $149,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $10,394,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,001 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 2,118 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 71.1% in the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 72,384 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,945,000 after purchasing an additional 30,084 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, Greenwood Capital Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 71.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 112,298 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,573,000 after purchasing an additional 46,712 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Fortinet from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.94, for a total value of $1,763,937.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,878,806 shares in the company, valued at $3,662,977,721.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of FTNT traded up $0.44 on Friday, reaching $82.92. 660,881 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,567,054. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $82.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.