Employees Retirement System of Texas Makes New Investment in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 56,061 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $5,927,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Saudi Central Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $25,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 41.4% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 355 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $80.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $83.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.12 and a 52 week high of $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.90 billion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.08.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.63 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.660-2.700 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.730-0.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Fortinet from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value of $13,710,537.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,445,911,452.29. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.53, for a total value of $306,835.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,492,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $907,874,317.54. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Company 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.