Smith Moore & CO. Buys Shares of 2,486 Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Smith Moore & CO. purchased a new position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,486 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTNT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth $724,048,000. Schroder Investment Management Group bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $389,867,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $720,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151,811 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 36.7% in 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 period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 136.0% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,919,952 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $275,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,708 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens began coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.77.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $84.71 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $102.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.00. The company has a market cap of $65.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. Equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total transaction of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.