Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Purchases 29,570 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 326,663 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 29,570 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in Fortinet were worth $30,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 188.9% during the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 416 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. The trade was a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 576,944 shares of company stock valued at $56,944,064. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FTNT. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $123.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.17.

Fortinet Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of FTNT traded down $2.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $96.86. The stock had a trading volume of 2,363,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,057,149. The stock's 50 day moving average is $101.45 and its 200 day moving average is $94.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market cap of $74.48 billion, a PE ratio of 42.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.