Inspire Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Inspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 283.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,303 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,831 shares during the period. Fortinet accounts for about 0.4% of Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 822,999 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $79,222,000 after buying an additional 35,384 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the 1st quarter worth $1,855,000. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,788 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,097,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 6,980 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,043 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,352,000 after buying an additional 1,930 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $115.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Fortinet from $122.00 to $110.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.48.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 335 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 301,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. The trade was a 0.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total transaction of $376,266.06. Following the sale, the vice president owned 11,000,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.0%

Fortinet stock opened at $104.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $103.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.23 billion, a PE ratio of 43.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.54 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 148.79%. The business’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.