Quent Capital LLC Raises Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,475 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 298 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTNT. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 703.1% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $85.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $65.74 billion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.06.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $75.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.03.

About Fortinet

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.