Merit Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,319 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 15,022 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $13,163,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 198.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 6,238,856 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $376,016,000 after buying an additional 4,148,520 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 276.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,685,230 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $285,790,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705,767 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 89.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,675,644 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $161,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265,162 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3,155.6% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,237,244 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $95,948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199,241 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,281,279 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,115,663,000 after purchasing an additional 766,135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 355 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $98.50 per share, for a total transaction of $34,967.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 150,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,799,132.50. This trade represents a 0.24 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 23,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This represents a 0.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,860 shares of company stock worth $6,469,056. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Fortinet from $77.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $105.00 target price (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Fortinet from $100.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eighteen have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.16.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $94.23 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $95.68 and a 200 day moving average of $80.34. The stock has a market cap of $72.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.59, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $54.57 and a 52-week high of $101.00.

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.