Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires New Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 729 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,213,826 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $71,045,000 after buying an additional 323,328 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,990 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 3,900 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 23,980 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after buying an additional 3,179 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 20,296 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,693,000 after buying an additional 34,582 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $64.03 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $48.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.12 and a 1-year high of $81.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $68.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.52.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.19.

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.