Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Sold by Meritage Portfolio Management

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 346,316 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 8,882 shares during the quarter. Fortinet accounts for 2.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $32,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 73.3% in the third quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. City State Bank increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 900.0% during the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total value of $2,244,163.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,983,683 shares in the company, valued at $4,796,972,076.19. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. This represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $102.78 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.92. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $102.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.78 billion, a PE ratio of 51.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.73.

Fortinet 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.