Sciencast Management LP Trims Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Sciencast Management LP lessened its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 86.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,390 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 27,432 shares during the quarter. Sciencast Management LP's holdings in Fortinet were worth $415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 445.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 600 shares of the software maker's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Fortinet by 95.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 630 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $105.69.

Remove Ads

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $1.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $101.01. 2,997,052 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,796,938. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.95. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.67 billion, a PE ratio of 44.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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 256.53%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 300,006 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,899,637.98. This 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 the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last 90 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.