Chase Investment Counsel Corp Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,909 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 276.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $285,790,000 after purchasing an additional 2,705,767 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 136.0% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,919,952 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $275,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,708 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Fortinet by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 98.9% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,457,858 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $113,057,000 after purchasing an additional 724,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its holdings in Fortinet by 1,084.1% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 657,311 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $62,103,000 after purchasing an additional 601,801 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $98.50 per share, with a total value of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 17,660 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.18, for a total transaction of $1,928,118.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $517,076.48. This represents a 78.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,120 shares of company stock valued at $8,991,409 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $108.01 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $54.57 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $101.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.75. The firm has a market cap of $82.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTNT. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $87.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.72.

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.