Marshall Wace LLP Grows Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 198.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 4,148,520 shares during the quarter. Fortinet comprises 0.5% of Marshall Wace LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.82% of Fortinet worth $376,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $196,000. TCW Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $611,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 250,398 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $14,656,000 after purchasing an additional 9,203 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,675,718 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $98,080,000 after purchasing an additional 389,098 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Services Automobile Association grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 18,495 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $77.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $59.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $78.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.21.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was 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 owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.94, for a total value of $1,763,937.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,878,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,662,977,721.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 96,210 shares of company stock valued at $6,337,801. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Fortinet from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.57.

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.