Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 85,714 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 42.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 286,416 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 85,714 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $27,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTNT. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 750,143 shares of the software maker's stock worth $58,174,000 after buying an additional 59,930 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 76,961 shares of the software maker's stock worth $7,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,638 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Fortinet by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,262 shares of the software maker's stock worth $686,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in Fortinet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 137,932 shares of the software maker's stock worth $13,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,602 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $603,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total transaction of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,981,414,831.47. This trade represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 738,978 shares of company stock worth $74,135,907. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $2.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $104.59. The stock had a trading volume of 4,506,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,963,265. The firm has a market cap of $80.05 billion, a PE ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $97.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.54 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Roth Capital set a $103.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $100.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $104.80.

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.