Chase Investment Counsel Corp Cuts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Chase Investment Counsel Corp lessened its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,867 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 589 shares during the quarter. Chase Investment Counsel Corp’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $577,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 10,514 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Fortinet by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 201,395 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $11,818,000 after buying an additional 3,032 shares during the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 9.5% in the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,016 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 43.4% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 3,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Equity Partners purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth approximately $247,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $63.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,081,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,731,507. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.12 and a 1 year high of $81.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.78.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Fortinet had a net margin of 21.64% and a negative return on equity of 7,572.46%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $2,549,620.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at $1,985,992,346.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 38,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total transaction of $2,549,620.05. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 29,887,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,992,346.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 46,084 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.07, for a total value of $3,183,021.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,813,638 shares in the company, valued at $3,578,767,976.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 132,139 shares of company stock valued at $8,977,876 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Fortinet from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Fortinet from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Fortinet in a report on Thursday, January 18th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Fortinet from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twenty-one have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.19.

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.