CWA Asset Management Group LLC Acquires Shares of 62,935 Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 62,935 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,881,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Fortinet by 664.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,400,215,000 after acquiring an additional 30,542,551 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the first quarter worth $548,013,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 198.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $376,016,000 after acquiring an additional 4,148,520 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Fortinet by 94.9% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,755,599 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $346,890,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 102.5% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,284,203 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $224,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662,156 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Stock Up 10.0 %

Fortinet stock opened at $92.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $70.40 billion, a PE ratio of 54.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.63 and a twelve month high of $92.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $78.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 23.71% and a negative return on equity of 2,160.10%. The company’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Fortinet from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.72.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total transaction of $1,908,610.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 70,538 shares of company stock worth $5,403,559 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.