Choate Investment Advisors Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,125 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Fortinet were worth $390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 445.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 600 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 95.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 630 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $96.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $74.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $102.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.93. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $54.57 and a one year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued 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%. Equities analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on FTNT. Citigroup raised their price objective on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom purchased 328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,899,637.98. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

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.