Nomura Holdings Inc. Grows Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 91.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 94,681 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 45,296 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $8,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 843 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,833 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 6,904 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,346 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $789,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 9,390 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $902,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Fortinet from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $95.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $104.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total value of $19,967,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,981,414,831.47. This represents a 0.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.11, for a total value of $376,266.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,000,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,167,217,215.48. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 738,978 shares of company stock worth $74,135,907 in the last ninety days. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT traded up $2.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $104.59. 4,506,022 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,971,955. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $54.57 and a 12 month high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $98.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $98.29.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The software maker reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 256.53% and a net margin of 29.30%. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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.