Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Fortinet Inc (FTNT)

Is Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) a buy here? Money managers are buying. The number of bullish hedge fund bets advanced by 10 recently.

At the moment, there are a multitude of methods shareholders can use to watch the equity markets. A duo of the most underrated are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can outperform the market by a significant amount (see just how much).

Equally as key, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to break down the investments you’re interested in. There are a number of stimuli for a bullish insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Several academic studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if “monkeys” know what to do (learn more here).

Consequently, it’s important to take a peek at the latest action surrounding Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT).

How are hedge funds trading Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT)?

At Q1’s end, a total of 39 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 34% from the first quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably.

According to our comprehensive database, Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital had the largest position in Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT), worth close to $57.4 million, comprising 1.5% of its total 13F portfolio. On Eminence Capital’s heels is John Lykouretzos of Hoplite Capital Management, with a $56.3 million position; the fund has 1.8% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish include Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital, Brett Barakett’s Tremblant Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Hoplite Capital Management, managed by John Lykouretzos, initiated the largest position in Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT). Hoplite Capital Management had 56.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Lee Ainslie’s Maverick Capital also initiated a $50 million position during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new FTNT investors: Josh Resnick’s Jericho Capital Asset Management, Andrew Sandler’s Sandler Capital Management, and Scott Fine and Peter Richards’s Empire Capital Management.

How have insiders been trading Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT)?

Insider trading activity, especially when it’s bullish, is particularly usable when the company in question has seen transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and 3 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

Let’s also review hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT). These stocks are Msci Inc (NYSE:MSCI), MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), Splunk Inc (NASDAQ:SPLK), Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CDNS), and CommVault Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVLT). All of these stocks are in the application software industry and their market caps resemble FTNT’s market cap.

With the results demonstrated by the aforementioned tactics, everyday investors must always keep an eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) is no exception.

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