Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 155.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 998,626 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 607,363 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.13% of Fortinet worth $94,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,115,470 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,435,550,000 after buying an additional 730,994 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,883,012 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,151,097,000 after buying an additional 354,692 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth about $724,048,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,151,811 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTNT. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price 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. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $105.77.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 in the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.4 %

FTNT stock traded up $2.05 during trading on Monday, reaching $86.76. 4,565,940 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,985,018. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.00. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The company has a market capitalization of $66.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09.

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

About Fortinet

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.