Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Purchases New Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,027 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,782 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 175,073 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $13,577,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares during the period. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.9% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 58,352 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 8.1% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,726 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $2,021,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $98.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a market capitalization of $75.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.56, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $102.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.16.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, 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. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530 over the last ninety days. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.