Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 57.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,743,571 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 634,455 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $164,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 276.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $285,790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705,767 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,729 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,890 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 10,586 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $821,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 14.7% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 25,760 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,998,000 after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $96.60 on Monday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $102.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.38. The company has a market cap of $74.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.74, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. 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 (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 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%. Research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. The trade was a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Fortinet from $68.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $123.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

Fortinet Company 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.