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

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. 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 trading hands.

Specifically, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which is available at this link. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556. Insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTNT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. Citigroup cut shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.35.

Fortinet Stock Down 8.3 %

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 firm has a market capitalization of $45.66 billion, a PE ratio of 41.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $67.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.90.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.29 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter valued at $569,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp raised its position in Fortinet by 124.4% in the first quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 22,137 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 12,270 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth about $314,000. Finally, Graypoint LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $208,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.