Inspire Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 8,894 Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 8,894 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 135.6% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Vima LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Fortinet from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 18,701 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.68, for a total value of $1,116,075.68. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $278,287.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,646 shares of company stock worth $4,152,086 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $59.69. 1,230,945 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,744,224. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.98. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $81.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.92.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal 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.