Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,235 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,496 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,782 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 175,073 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $13,577,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares during the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $487,000. Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $236,000. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 58,352 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,525,000 after purchasing an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.69.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.2 %

FTNT opened at $96.91 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $102.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.88, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its 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 forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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.