NewEdge Wealth LLC Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 313,753 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 40,225 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $18,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Retirement Group LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 108,147 shares of company stock valued at $7,424,394. 17.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 target price (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.35.

Fortinet Stock Down 2.6 %

FTNT stock traded down $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,132,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,057,131. The company has a market cap of $50.70 billion, a PE ratio of 45.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.12 and a 12 month high of $81.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.91 and its 200-day moving average is $61.34.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.