Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 149.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,829 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,803 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 12,743 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 5.1% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,324 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors boosted its position in Fortinet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 3,420 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% in the third quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 40,092 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,353,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syntax Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 7.0% in the third quarter. Syntax Advisors LLC now owns 3,420 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,694 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.40, for a total transaction of $1,691,751.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 48,625,005 shares in the company, valued at $3,471,825,357. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,985,992,346.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 132,139 shares of company stock worth $8,977,876 in the last ninety days. 17.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $64.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $48.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.96 and its 200 day moving average is $61.75. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $81.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.41 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The company’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on FTNT shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. DZ Bank lowered Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Fortinet from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.