Prudential Financial Inc. Raises Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 104.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 826,136 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 421,569 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.11% of Fortinet worth $78,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $670,000. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 89,827 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $8,487,000 after purchasing an additional 8,707 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 23,499 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after buying an additional 3,544 shares during the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 299,989 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $28,343,000 after buying an additional 169,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $10,343,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.2 %

Fortinet stock opened at $99.79 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.70. The company has a market cap of $76.74 billion, a PE ratio of 44.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. 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 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. UBS Group set a $123.00 price target on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 in the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is currently 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.