Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,062 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. State Street Corp raised its position in Fortinet by 2.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,012 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,151,097,000 after purchasing an additional 354,692 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,787,931 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $448,854,000 after buying an additional 542,727 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Fortinet by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,817,859 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $296,075,000 after buying an additional 68,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 276.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after buying an additional 2,705,767 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.66, for a total transaction of $1,688,399.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $448,549.74. This trade represents a 79.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056 over the last three months. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of FTNT opened at $97.45 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $101.00. The stock has a market cap of $74.69 billion, a PE ratio of 49.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.48 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on FTNT. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho increased their target price on Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.83.

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.