Exchange Capital Management Inc. Grows Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Exchange Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 5.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,588 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 968 shares during the period. Exchange Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 703.1% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Fortinet during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its stake in Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Mizuho dropped their target price on Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.03.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.3%

FTNT stock opened at $86.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $66.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.38, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.16. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%.The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.20% 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.