Merit Financial Group LLC Cuts Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Merit Financial Group LLC lessened its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,399 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 175 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cito Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $660,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,693,000 after buying an additional 34,582 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2,092.4% during the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 40,603 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,411,000 after buying an additional 38,751 shares in the last quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 12.5% during the third quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 63,788 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,743,000 after buying an additional 7,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $1,487,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FTNT. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $52.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.68.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related 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 value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

Shares of FTNT opened at $58.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.12 and a 1 year high of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.92.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet Company 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.