Aviva PLC Trims Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Aviva PLC lessened its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 30.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 390,529 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 172,216 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $36,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,115,470 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,435,550,000 after purchasing an additional 730,994 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,270,913 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,440,648,000 after acquiring an additional 387,901 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $724,048,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $720,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,151,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,577,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $631,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,766,860 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised shares of Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.77.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,612 shares in the company, valued at $1,861,200. This represents a 9.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 5.3 %

FTNT stock opened at $84.71 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $102.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.00. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The company has a market cap of $65.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.48, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09.

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, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 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.