Simmons Bank Acquires 10,695 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Simmons Bank grew its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 53.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,664 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 10,695 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headinvest LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Atwood & Palmer Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $37,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total transaction of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,813,638 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 24,710 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.48, for a total value of $1,593,300.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,867,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $700,705,320.64. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,480 shares of company stock valued at $8,021,556 in the last 90 days. 17.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FTNT. Barclays cut their price objective on Fortinet from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “reduce” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.37.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,438,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,119,838. The stock has a market cap of $45.36 billion, a PE ratio of 38.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.12 and a 52 week high of $81.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $67.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.96.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The software maker reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 22.23% and a negative return on equity of 2,235.48%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.4 EPS 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.