Choate Investment Advisors Purchases 349 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Choate Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,125 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Fortinet were worth $390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 445.5% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 95.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 630 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 326,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.17, for a total transaction of $32,080,385.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,079,876,675.56. This represents a 2.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,861,200. The trade was a 9.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. KeyCorp raised Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.72.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $96.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.77, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $102.15 and a 200 day moving average of $91.93.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released 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 return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.