AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Grows Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 1,084.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 657,311 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 601,801 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned approximately 0.09% of Fortinet worth $62,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on FTNT shares. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $112.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $103.72.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT stock traded up $2.62 on Tuesday, hitting $114.26. 6,503,502 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,493,379. The company has a 50 day moving average of $98.89 and a 200 day moving average of $87.15. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The stock has a market cap of $87.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 463.85%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.05 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William H. Neukom bought 355 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of Fortinet 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 63,610 shares of company stock worth $6,083,029. Corporate insiders own 18.00% 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.