Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Has $16.13 Million Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 359.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 167,542 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 131,037 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $16,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 752 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Fortinet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 12,334 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 0.4% during the first quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 26,285 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,530,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 47.5% during the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Bogart Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 37.3% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 412 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $79.33 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $100.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.18. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $958,265,548.80. This represents a 4.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 301,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 8th. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.93.

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.