Meridian Wealth Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 19.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,312 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,141 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FTNT. Dover Advisors LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dover Advisors LLC now owns 9,451 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $999,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 2,330 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 851 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists grew its position in Fortinet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 4,330 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont grew its position in Fortinet by 3.6% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 2,852 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.53, for a total value of $306,835.38. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 10,492,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $907,874,317.54. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value of $13,710,537.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,445,911,452.29. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $82.31 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $61.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.79, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.36.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.660-2.700 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.730-0.750 EPS. Analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Cowen cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Wedbush cut their target price on Fortinet from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Fortinet from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.62.

About Fortinet

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.