Sheets Smith Investment Management Invests $1.50 Million in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Sheets Smith Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 15,820 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,495,000. Fortinet comprises 1.3% of Sheets Smith Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $670,000. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI lifted its stake in Fortinet by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 89,827 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $8,487,000 after buying an additional 8,707 shares during the period. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 23,499 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,220,000 after buying an additional 3,544 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 129.9% in the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 299,989 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $28,343,000 after buying an additional 169,530 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,343,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $98.65 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The firm has a market cap of $75.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.65, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total value of $32,080,385.28. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,000,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,079,876,675.56. This trade represents a 2.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $106.33 per share, for a total transaction of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Fortinet from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $105.69.

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.