Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,385 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,703 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 2,385 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 445.5% during the 4th 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. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 95.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $98.45 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The business’s fifty day moving average is $102.26 and its 200 day moving average is $92.16. 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 stock has a market cap of $75.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Baird R W cut Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.