Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $1.08 Million Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 46.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,171 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,547 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in Fortinet by 703.1% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 257 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 47.5% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 348 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Mechanics Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $78.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $60.13 billion, a PE ratio of 31.26, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $100.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 1.24. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.65 and a 1 year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total transaction of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $958,265,548.80. The trade was a 4.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,486 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $15,607,701.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,061,072,243.92. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price (down previously from $125.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Cowen cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-five have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.93.

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.