Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Position Lifted by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 383,548 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,946 shares during the quarter. Fortinet makes up 1.5% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $22,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of FTNT. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Fortinet by 156.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $554,945,000 after buying an additional 5,765,174 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,576,224 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $209,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,585,236 shares in the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $75,698,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Fortinet by 358.1% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 569.5% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 964,294 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $56,585,000 after purchasing an additional 820,257 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876. 17.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.0 %

FTNT traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.00. 2,154,996 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,751,946. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.72. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.12 and a 1 year high of $81.24. The firm has a market cap of $48.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial increased their target price on Fortinet from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup cut shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.19.

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.