Mizuho Securities USA LLC Boosts Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 46.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,293 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,125 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,696,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of FTNT. Pathstone Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 58,352 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,525,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 11.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,580 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,518,000 after buying an additional 1,955 shares in the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $204,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,817,859 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $296,075,000 after buying an additional 68,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $647,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Baird R W cut Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. KeyCorp upgraded Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $98.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $114.82. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.42. The company has a market capitalization of $75.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $31,899,637.98. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at $537,820.16. This trade represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530 over the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.