LVW Advisors LLC Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

LVW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,501 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 188.9% in the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $102.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $78.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $99.77 and its 200-day moving average is $99.59. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 300,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 697,818 shares of company stock valued at $69,539,128. 17.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FTNT. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $122.00 to $110.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.80.

Fortinet Company 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.