Meridian Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 8,338 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $647,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $400,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,817,859 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $296,075,000 after buying an additional 68,852 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in Fortinet by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 292,065 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $22,650,000 after buying an additional 52,327 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 84.5% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 370,773 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,753,000 after buying an additional 169,864 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total transaction of $386,027.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares in the company, valued at $425,901.87. This trade represents a 47.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total transaction of $1,908,610.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares in the company, valued at $4,005,692,751.70. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,095 shares of company stock worth $4,058,575. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on FTNT shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.93.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT opened at $92.77 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $71.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.85, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $82.45 and its 200 day moving average is $70.45. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.65 and a 12-month high of $100.59.

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.