Meritage Portfolio Management Has $32.72 Million Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 346,316 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 8,882 shares during the period. Fortinet comprises about 2.0% of Meritage Portfolio Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $32,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. City State Bank raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.66, for a total value of $1,688,399.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $448,549.74. This represents a 79.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. This represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $102.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $96.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.34. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $102.87.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $1.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FTNT shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen increased their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Barclays boosted their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $100.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.73.

Fortinet 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.