Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Gap Down Following Insider Selling

Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) gapped down prior to trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The stock had previously closed at $65.20, but opened at $61.86. Fortinet shares last traded at $61.08, with a volume of 4,444,724 shares changing hands.

Specifically, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Fortinet from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.68.

Fortinet Trading Down 9.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $67.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. Fortinet’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 156.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $554,945,000 after acquiring an additional 5,765,174 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,501,000. Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter worth $120,746,000. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth $75,698,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 358.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.