Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 41.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 787,390 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 232,469 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $74,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 12,005 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $931,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 108.6% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 31,783 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,465,000 after purchasing an additional 16,550 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $1,454,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.5% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 12,442 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $965,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 13.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 45,710 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,545,000 after purchasing an additional 5,263 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $88.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $67.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.00, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total value of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,981,414,831.47. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,861,200. This trade represents a 9.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FTNT. KeyCorp raised shares of Fortinet from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $115.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $105.77.

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.