Manhattan West Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Manhattan West Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 36,212 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 22,259 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413 shares during the period. Tandem Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at $241,000. Argent Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at about $231,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in Fortinet by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 76,041 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $7,184,000 after purchasing an additional 8,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 326,663 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $30,863,000 after buying an additional 29,570 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group set a $123.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $105.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William H. Neukom bought 328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock worth $59,094,530. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $97.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $101.72 and its 200-day moving average is $94.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $75.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.57 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Equities research analysts expect 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.