Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 202,316 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 27,243 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $19,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $670,000. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 8,707 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 129.9% in the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 299,989 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,343,000 after purchasing an additional 169,530 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,343,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,899,637.98. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $96.91 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $74.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.88, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.