MQS Management LLC Invests $311,000 in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,152 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 779,271 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Fortinet by 664.8% in the first 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 period. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.7% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,156,797 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $491,610,000 after acquiring an additional 134,366 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Fortinet by 94.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,755,599 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $346,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802,446 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 5,026,394 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $302,941,000 after purchasing an additional 657,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $76.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.22. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $78.08. The stock has a market cap of $58.66 billion, a PE ratio of 50.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.21.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The business’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 24,267 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $1,456,262.67. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,777,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,927,125,412.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,210 shares of company stock worth $6,337,801 in the last 90 days. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. DZ Bank raised Fortinet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.57.

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.