Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Sells 27,025 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 310,498 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 27,025 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $21,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,052,487 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,648,665,000 after purchasing an additional 779,271 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Fortinet by 664.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 30,542,551 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $203,501,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 102.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,284,203 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $224,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,662,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Fortinet by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,953,153 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $201,730,000 after acquiring an additional 26,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

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 shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director William H. Neukom bought 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $59.55 per share, with a total value of $34,896.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 295,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $17,613,579.90. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly 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. Insiders sold 91,913 shares of company stock valued at $5,608,349 in the last ninety days. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $57.45. 2,950,966 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,748,582. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.86. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $44.12 and a one year high of $78.58. The company has a market capitalization of $43.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.98.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. Research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on FTNT. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.