Vanguard Group Inc. Has $6.44 Billion Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,115,470 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 730,994 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.09% of Fortinet worth $6,435,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 281,070 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,555,000 after buying an additional 58,924 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 3,369 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $318,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $22,959,000. Marietta Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 157.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 474,458 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,827,000 after purchasing an additional 290,089 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of FTNT opened at $98.65 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $75.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.65, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $102.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.53. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released 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 return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. Analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions 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 value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,899,637.98. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Baird R W lowered shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.69.

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.