Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 321,152 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 169.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 510,776 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 321,152 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Fortinet were worth $48,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its position in Fortinet by 445.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 600 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in Fortinet by 95.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 630 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 307 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 696 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, Director Kenneth A. Goldman sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,200. This trade represents a 9.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.32, for a total value of $2,150,466.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530 over the last quarter. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $98.45 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $102.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.16. 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 12-month low of $54.57 and a 12-month high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 EPS 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%. Analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $112.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Fortinet from $99.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Fortinet from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $105.69.

About Fortinet

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.