Retirement Systems of Alabama Invests $8.22 Million in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Retirement Systems of Alabama acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 140,468 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $8,222,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $58.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.90. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.12 and a 12-month high of $81.24.

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

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total value of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Fortinet from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. HSBC reduced their price target on Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Capital One Financial downgraded Fortinet from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.68.

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.