The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 398,242 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 4,634 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.05% of Fortinet worth $37,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,115,470 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,435,550,000 after purchasing an additional 730,994 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,270,913 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,440,648,000 after buying an additional 387,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,388,693 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $792,564,000 after buying an additional 2,000,888 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at $724,048,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Fortinet by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 7,622,253 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $720,150,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151,811 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $107.95. 1,508,619 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,003,858. The firm has a market cap of $82.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 1.16. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $54.57 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $98.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.01.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Keith Jensen sold 23,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.56, for a total value of $2,668,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at $537,820.16. This represents a 83.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 206,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total transaction of $19,967,580.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,981,414,831.47. The trade was a 0.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 738,978 shares of company stock worth $74,135,907. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price 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 reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $97.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued 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 company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.07.

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.