Aristides Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Aristides Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,000 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Winthrop Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 135.6% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 377 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total transaction of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,842,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 96,210 shares of company stock valued at $6,337,801. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $77.55 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.45. The stock has a market cap of $59.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $78.18.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.