Securian Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Securian Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,190 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 923 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in Fortinet by 95.0% in 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 acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their position. 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,861,200. The trade was a 9.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 622,904 shares of company stock worth $61,338,694 in the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $97.93 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $102.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.41. The company has a market capitalization of $75.31 billion, a PE ratio of 43.33, 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released 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 return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $112.00 price target (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $88.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.72.

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.