abrdn plc Buys 130,308 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 66.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 325,017 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 130,308 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $19,023,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter worth $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT stock opened at $65.45 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.94 billion, a PE ratio of 45.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.70. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.12 and a 12-month high of $81.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a negative return on equity of 7,572.46% and a net margin of 21.64%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 132,139 shares of company stock worth $8,977,876 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on FTNT. Citigroup lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $62.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Mizuho raised their target price on Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.19.

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.