Empowered Funds LLC Grows Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 245,334 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 2,915 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $23,179,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,115,663,000 after acquiring an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 2.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,012 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,151,097,000 after acquiring an additional 354,692 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,787,931 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $448,854,000 after acquiring an additional 542,727 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,817,859 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $296,075,000 after buying an additional 68,852 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,705,767 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $107.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $82.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $110.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $97.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.74.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 463.85%. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 355 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.43.

Fortinet Company 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.