Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 57.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 260,882 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 95,414 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $24,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 276.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after buying an additional 2,705,767 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 89.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,675,644 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $161,261,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265,162 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 3,155.6% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $95,948,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,241 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 98.9% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $113,057,000 after purchasing an additional 724,887 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 4,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.83, for a total value of $386,027.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $425,901.87. This trade represents a 47.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056 over the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on FTNT. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Fortinet from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seventeen have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.83.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $98.24 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $95.59 and its 200 day moving average is $81.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $101.00. The stock has a market cap of $75.30 billion, a PE ratio of 49.62, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The software maker reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $1.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.48 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 26.79% and a return on equity of 973.30%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share 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.