J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Grows Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,830 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 843 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,833 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,346 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $789,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Fortinet by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,106 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Fortinet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 23,852 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,254,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FTNT. Mizuho upped their target price on Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. HSBC upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $83.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.72.

Fortinet Trading Up 2.3 %

Fortinet stock opened at $114.26 on Wednesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $99.23 and its 200-day moving average is $87.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market cap of $87.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.56, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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 463.85%. On average, equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, Director William H. Neukom bought 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. This represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 63,610 shares of company stock worth $6,083,029 in the last 90 days. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.