Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Purchased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,926,924 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 438,476 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $171,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Fortinet by 156.8% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $554,945,000 after acquiring an additional 5,765,174 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Fortinet by 79.6% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 3,576,224 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $209,853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585,236 shares during the last quarter. DSM Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $75,698,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Fortinet by 358.1% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $96,478,000 after buying an additional 1,285,197 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 569.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 964,294 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,585,000 after acquiring an additional 820,257 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Fortinet from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. DZ Bank lowered Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.19.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $0.03 on Tuesday, reaching $64.27. 997,838 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,695,531. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $81.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $67.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.34, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876 over the last three months. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

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.