Clearbridge Investments LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Clearbridge Investments LLC cut its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,032,932 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 165,728 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned about 0.13% of Fortinet worth $97,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $724,048,000. Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $389,867,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 276.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $285,790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,705,767 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 39.3% during 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 buying an additional 2,151,811 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,577,467 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $631,700,000 after buying an additional 1,766,860 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.4 %

FTNT opened at $96.26 on Tuesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.02 billion, a PE ratio of 42.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $103.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.53.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its 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 net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. As a group, research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 300,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 in the last quarter. Insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

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.