Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 25.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 7,716 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,559 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $729,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 13.5% in the 4th 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 6,904 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $652,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,346 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 9,390 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $902,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $107.33 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $98.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FTNT shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total value of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $4,981,414,831.47. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 738,978 shares of company stock valued at $74,135,907 in the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.