Moors & Cabot Inc. Cuts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lessened its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,180 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 3,035 shares during the quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $2,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,026,394 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $302,941,000 after purchasing an additional 657,400 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 38.1% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 22,468 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,193 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter worth about $7,283,000. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter valued at approximately $194,000. Finally, Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 182,392 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $10,993,000 after buying an additional 1,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $75.61 on Wednesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.12 and a twelve month high of $78.08. The firm has a market cap of $57.76 billion, a PE ratio of 49.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $66.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Fortinet from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating 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.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.57.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,777,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,927,125,412.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,777,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,125,412.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 72,672 shares of company stock valued at $4,573,864. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.