Liberty Capital Management Inc. Grows Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 0.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 67,854 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the quarter. Fortinet comprises 1.2% of Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. Winthrop Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Fortinet by 61.2% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 627 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City State Bank grew its stake in Fortinet by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. City State Bank now owns 500 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total value of $1,908,610.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,005,692,751.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 24,712 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,386,590.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,847,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $608,626,179.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.89, for a total value of $1,908,610.23. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,692,751.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,250 shares of company stock valued at $6,790,149 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $82.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.45, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.78. The company has a market capitalization of $62.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.88, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.12 and a fifty-two week high of $83.77.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.40 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 2,160.10% and a net margin of 23.71%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Fortinet from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho cut Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Fortinet from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Fortinet from $71.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.71.

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.