Aviva PLC Sells 172,216 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Aviva PLC cut its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 30.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 390,529 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 172,216 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned approximately 0.05% of Fortinet worth $36,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $724,048,000. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at $389,867,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $720,150,000 after buying an additional 2,151,811 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,577,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $631,700,000 after buying an additional 1,766,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 136.0% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,919,952 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $275,877,000 after buying an additional 1,682,708 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,079,876,675.56. This represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTNT. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 price objective on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Baird R W downgraded Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.77.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $84.71 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $65.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.48, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company’s 50 day moving average is $102.59 and its 200 day moving average is $94.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.