Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful value investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds’ and successful investors’ positions as of the end of the third quarter. You can find articles about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves over the last 6 years and analyze what the smart money thinks of Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) based on that data.
Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) was in 38 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021. The all time high for this statistic is 44. FTNT investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. There were 32 hedge funds in our database with FTNT holdings at the end of June. Our calculations also showed that FTNT isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings).
At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium prices have more than doubled over the past year, so we go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. Keeping this in mind let’s check out the latest hedge fund action surrounding Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT).
David Siegel of Two Sigma Advisors
Do Hedge Funds Think FTNT Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?
At third quarter’s end, a total of 38 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 19% from the previous quarter. Below, you can check out the change in hedge fund sentiment towards FTNT over the last 25 quarters. With the smart money’s sentiment swirling, there exists a few notable hedge fund managers who were adding to their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
Among these funds, Renaissance Technologies held the most valuable stake in Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT), which was worth $309.5 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Two Sigma Advisors which amassed $239 million worth of shares. Fundsmith LLP, Citadel Investment Group, and Park West Asset Management were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Park West Asset Management allocated the biggest weight to Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT), around 2.37% of its 13F portfolio. Navellier & Associates is also relatively very bullish on the stock, earmarking 1.32 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to FTNT.
Now, some big names were leading the bulls’ herd. ExodusPoint Capital, managed by Michael Gelband, initiated the biggest position in Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT). ExodusPoint Capital had $6.4 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management also made a $4.1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new FTNT investors: Ryan Tolkin (CIO)’s Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.
Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT). These stocks are Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A), Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD), American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG), Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC), TC Energy Corporation (NYSE:TRP), Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX), and Roper Technologies Inc. (NYSE:ROP). This group of stocks’ market caps are closest to FTNT’s market cap.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 46 | 3135637 | 7 |
| EPD | 25 | 233255 | -3 |
| AIG | 30 | 1904264 | -9 |
| EXC | 36 | 1108781 | 1 |
| TRP | 15 | 84084 | -7 |
| VRTX | 55 | 2713283 | -5 |
| ROP | 45 | 1667275 | 4 |
| Average | 36 | 1549511 | -1.7 |
View table here if you experience formatting issues.
As you can see these stocks had an average of 36 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $1550 million. That figure was $1139 million in FTNT’s case. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand TC Energy Corporation (NYSE:TRP) is the least popular one with only 15 bullish hedge fund positions. Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) is not the most popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still above average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for FTNT is 64.7. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 28.6% in 2021 through November 30th and still beat the market by 5.6 percentage points. Hedge funds were also right about betting on FTNT as the stock returned 13.7% since the end of Q3 (through 11/30) and outperformed the market. Hedge funds were rewarded for their relative bullishness.
Follow Fortinet Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
