Merit Financial Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Merit Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,399 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $67.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.68.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556. 17.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Stock Down 9.7 %

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $81.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.92.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 5,061.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 EPS. Analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.