Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 272,582 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 96.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 555,572 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 272,582 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $52,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $56,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 445.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 600 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 95.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 630 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.69.

Fortinet Trading Down 3.0 %

Fortinet stock opened at $96.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $74.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.74, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $102.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.14.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530 over the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.