Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 39.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 160,481 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,092 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $15,162,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 25,631 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,545,000 after acquiring an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Fortinet by 190.4% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 1,452 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Fortinet by 6.5% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 165,465 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $9,973,000 after purchasing an additional 10,145 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Fortinet by 82.1% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 22,460 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,354,000 after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,571 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on FTNT. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 price target (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $386,027.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,901.87. This represents a 47.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $98.24 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $75.30 billion, a PE ratio of 49.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $95.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.34. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $101.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.48 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 973.30% and a net margin of 26.79%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.