Northern Trust Corp Increases Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 17.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,470,320 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 951,233 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.84% of Fortinet worth $611,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $1,346,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,910 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,125,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Three Seasons Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $390,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $23,620,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT opened at $102.64 on Tuesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82. 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 company has a market cap of $78.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $99.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.18.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $123.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.77.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value of $32,080,385.28. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at $1,079,876,675.56. The trade was a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total transaction of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at $4,981,414,831.47. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 576,944 shares of company stock valued at $56,944,064. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.