Neuberger Berman Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 72,966 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 4,129 shares during the quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $7,024,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Fortinet by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,662,404 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,898,223,000 after buying an additional 3,546,934 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 11,349.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,927,607 shares of the software maker's stock worth $185,551,000 after buying an additional 1,910,771 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $153,576,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Fortinet by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,470,320 shares of the software maker's stock worth $611,316,000 after buying an additional 951,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in Fortinet by 127.6% during the 1st quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,496,339 shares of the software maker's stock worth $144,038,000 after buying an additional 839,028 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Stock Up 2.4%

Fortinet stock traded up $1.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $79.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,860,686 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,724,086. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $114.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market cap of $60.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.90.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The software maker reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 111.46% and a net margin of 30.60%. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Fortinet's quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom bought 335 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $104.22 per share, for a total transaction of $34,913.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 301,471 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,419,307.62. This trade represents a 0.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 476,596 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $46,935,174.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,730,560 shares in the company, valued at $958,265,548.80. This trade represents a 4.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Roth Capital set a $103.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $110.00 to $90.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-six have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $97.93.

Fortinet Company 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.