National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 234,896 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 46.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 740,528 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 234,896 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $42,788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Fortinet by 156.8% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,441,059 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $554,945,000 after purchasing an additional 5,765,174 shares during the period. DSM Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter worth $75,698,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 358.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,644,139 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $96,478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,197 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 569.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 964,294 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $56,585,000 after acquiring an additional 820,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Group Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,362,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total transaction of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock worth $8,021,556 in the last 90 days. 17.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $81.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Fortinet from $82.00 to $70.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.37.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.0 %

FTNT stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $58.87. The stock had a trading volume of 7,924,269 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,895,567. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $67.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 38.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.12 and a 12-month high of $81.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,235.48% and a net margin of 22.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.4 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.