LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Buys 843 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,057 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $9,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 73,186 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,045,000 after acquiring an additional 21,177 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 6,794 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Gould Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $908,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 40.8% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,411 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $12,650,000 after acquiring an additional 38,080 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $79.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.93. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (down from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price (down previously from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.03.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the firm’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 $46,935,174.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $15,607,701.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

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.