Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Position Lifted by NBC Securities Inc.

NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 99,075.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,967 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,963 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,115,470 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,435,550,000 after acquiring an additional 730,994 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,270,913 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,440,648,000 after acquiring an additional 387,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Fortinet by 31.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,388,693 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $792,564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,888 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $724,048,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Fortinet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $720,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151,811 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 1,000 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.32, for a total value of $99,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 20,612 shares in the company, valued at $2,047,183.84. The trade was a 4.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 335 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $104.22 per share, with a total value of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 301,471 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 697,818 shares of company stock valued at $69,539,128 in the last three months. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $104.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $99.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.43, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.06.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. The company’s revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. DZ Bank raised shares of Fortinet from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $123.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $104.80.

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.