Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,406,740 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 242,397 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of Fortinet worth $132,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alcosta Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at $5,247,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $253,000. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 195,577 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $18,479,000 after purchasing an additional 13,039 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 135,000 shares of the software maker's stock worth $12,755,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, Nutshell Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,725,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock traded up $0.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $97.14. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,115,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,053,269. The stock has a market cap of $74.70 billion, a PE ratio of 42.89, 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 50 day moving average of $101.82 and a 200 day moving average of $94.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Baird R W downgraded Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $123.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $105.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,861,200. This represents a 9.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last ninety days. Company 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.