American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 102,434 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 701,206 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 102,434 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $66,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 445.5% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 600 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in Fortinet by 95.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT stock opened at $102.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $78.50 billion, a PE ratio of 45.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $102.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.89. 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 1-year low of $54.57 and a 1-year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The software maker reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 29.30% and a return on equity of 256.53%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, Director William H. Neukom acquired 328 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $106.33 per share, with a total value of $34,876.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 300,006 shares in the company, valued at $31,899,637.98. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,039,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,576,384,617.36. This trade represents a 0.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 599,988 shares of company stock valued at $59,094,530. 18.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $135.00 target price (up previously from $120.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $103.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.69.

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.