Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Has $19.16 Million Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 53.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 202,825 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 70,413 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $19,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after buying an additional 766,135 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,012 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,151,097,000 after acquiring an additional 354,692 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Fortinet by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,577,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $631,700,000 after acquiring an additional 1,766,860 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,787,931 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $448,854,000 after acquiring an additional 542,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,974,625 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $375,523,000 after purchasing an additional 156,766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $96.25 on Monday. 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 capitalization of $74.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.79.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,861,200. This represents a 9.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 622,904 shares of company stock worth $61,338,694. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $105.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.72.

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.