BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Raises Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 68.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,460,729 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 593,370 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned 0.19% of Fortinet worth $88,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 8,260 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in Fortinet by 22.4% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 984 shares of the software maker's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Werlinich Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Werlinich Asset Management LLC now owns 10,650 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $639,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,319 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,456,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Buckhead Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 30,134 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,764,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT stock traded up $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $76.71. The company had a trading volume of 3,585,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,777,491. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $77.18. The company has a market capitalization of $58.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.53.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares of the company's stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total transaction of $1,731,010.58. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,842,522 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 115,608 shares of company stock worth $7,132,649. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen raised shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Fortinet from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.31.

Fortinet 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.

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