Castellan Group Makes New Investment in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Castellan Group purchased a new position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 87,208 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $8,239,000. Fortinet comprises 3.6% of Castellan Group’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 73.3% during the third quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $107.70 on Thursday. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $110.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.55 billion, a PE ratio of 47.66, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $98.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 463.85% and a net margin of 29.30%. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares in the company, 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 sold 67,860 shares of company stock valued at $6,469,056 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.77.

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.