Howard Capital Management Inc. Has $1.86 Million Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,694 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 276.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,705,767 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3,155.6% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,241 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 98.9% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $113,057,000 after buying an additional 724,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in Fortinet by 1,084.1% during the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 657,311 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,103,000 after buying an additional 601,801 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Trading Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $110.02 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $100.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.67. The company has a market cap of $84.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of 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 represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at $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 have sold 87,110 shares of company stock worth $8,751,689 in the last quarter. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wedbush increased their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp raised Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.72.

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.