Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 250,398 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 9,203 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $14,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cito Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $660,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 507,306 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,693,000 after acquiring an additional 34,582 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 2,092.4% during the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 40,603 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,411,000 after acquiring an additional 38,751 shares in the last quarter. LGT Group Foundation grew its holdings in Fortinet by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 748,784 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $44,478,000 after acquiring an additional 94,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alamar Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alamar Capital Management LLC now owns 63,788 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,743,000 after acquiring an additional 7,110 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $61.35 on Monday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.12 and a 1 year high of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.29 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FTNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,471,825,357. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,867,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $700,705,320.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,396 shares of company stock valued at $4,838,534 in the last 90 days. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Fortinet

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.