LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Acquires 8,707 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,827 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,707 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $8,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTNT. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 73.3% in the 3rd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 409 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. City State Bank increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom purchased 355 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 150,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,307 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,915,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,005,692,751.70. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 68,123 shares of company stock valued at $6,227,201 over the last three months. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FTNT. Hsbc Global Res raised Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.35.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $95.19. 1,758,927 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,623,198. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $101.00. The company has a market cap of $72.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.90.

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.