Hancock Whitney Corp Grows Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,945 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 8,383 shares during the period. Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings in Fortinet were worth $4,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 45,966 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,565,000 after acquiring an additional 1,866 shares in the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co bought a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth about $9,818,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at about $280,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $394,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 311.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 133,226 shares of the software maker's stock worth $10,332,000 after buying an additional 100,832 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Stephens assumed coverage on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total transaction of $2,668,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares in the company, valued at $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % 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. Also, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,612 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,861,200. The trade was a 9.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 576,944 shares of company stock valued at $56,944,064 over the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $1.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $103.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,062,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,064,714. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $99.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.18. The stock has a market cap of $79.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $54.57 and a twelve month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. On average, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

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.