Plato Investment Management Ltd Grows Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 39.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,974 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,960 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after acquiring an additional 766,135 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,012 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,151,097,000 after buying an additional 354,692 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 10.3% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,787,931 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $448,854,000 after buying an additional 542,727 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,817,859 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $296,075,000 after buying an additional 68,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 276.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $285,790,000 after buying an additional 2,705,767 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,120 shares of company stock valued at $8,991,409 in the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $106.54 on Tuesday. 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. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $101.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.23. The company has a market cap of $81.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.14, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.72.

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.