Meritas Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Meritas Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,728 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,052,487 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,648,665,000 after acquiring an additional 779,271 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Fortinet by 664.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,137,089 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,400,215,000 after buying an additional 30,542,551 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.7% during the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,156,797 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $491,610,000 after buying an additional 134,366 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 198.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $376,016,000 after buying an additional 4,148,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Fortinet by 94.9% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,755,599 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $346,890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,802,446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,386,590.32. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,847,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.06, for a total transaction of $1,731,010.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 48,842,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,568,434,657.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,210 shares of company stock valued at $6,337,801 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $76.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.81 billion, a PE ratio of 50.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.60. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.12 and a 52-week high of $78.50.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on FTNT. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Fortinet from $85.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. TD Cowen raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.57.

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.