National Bank of Canada FI Sells 127,236 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 21.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 463,496 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 127,236 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.06% of Fortinet worth $43,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $670,000. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its position in Fortinet by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 89,827 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $8,487,000 after buying an additional 8,707 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 23,499 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,220,000 after purchasing an additional 3,544 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 299,989 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $28,343,000 after buying an additional 169,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,343,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group set a $123.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $112.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stephens began coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $105.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total transaction of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,981,414,831.47. This represents a 0.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of FTNT traded up $2.49 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $87.20. The company had a trading volume of 4,873,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,985,742. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $102.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.00. The company has a market capitalization of $67.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week 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.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current 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.