Blue Trust Inc. Raises Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 22.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,286 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 276.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705,767 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3,155.6% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,241 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 98.9% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $113,057,000 after purchasing an additional 724,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Fortinet by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,584,528 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $200,172,000 after buying an additional 558,807 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $96.77 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.16. The company has a market capitalization of $74.17 billion, a PE ratio of 48.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $101.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. KeyCorp upgraded Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.83.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. The trade was a 0.24 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $386,027.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $425,901.87. The trade was a 47.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.