National Pension Service Purchases 54,444 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,959,847 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 54,444 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned 0.26% of Fortinet worth $185,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 73.3% during the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $109.02 on Thursday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a market cap of $83.56 billion, a PE ratio of 48.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $100.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.36.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on FTNT shares. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 69,460 shares of company stock valued at $7,063,290. 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.