Patron Partners LLC Raises Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Patron Partners LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,002 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 389 shares during the quarter. Patron Partners LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,039,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 73.3% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. City State Bank increased its position in Fortinet by 900.0% in the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 price objective (up from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.23.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT opened at $100.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $77.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.96, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.61. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $102.87.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total transaction of $386,027.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at approximately $425,901.87. This trade represents a 47.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056 over the last three months. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.