Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,200 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $8,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTNT. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 276.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $285,790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705,767 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 3,155.6% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,241 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 98.9% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $113,057,000 after purchasing an additional 724,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Fortinet by 27.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,584,528 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $200,172,000 after buying an additional 558,807 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 22,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.93, for a total transaction of $2,244,163.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,983,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,796,972,076.19. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $108.33 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $110.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.03 billion, a PE ratio of 47.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 463.85%. Equities analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on FTNT shares. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. HSBC upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $83.00 to $111.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.77.

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.