Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Makes New $8.54 Million Investment in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 55,613 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $8,543,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Fortinet by 53.6% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 215 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 3.0% in the first quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 515 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 5,250 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 329,142 shares of company stock valued at $50,731,178 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $185.00 price target (up from $165.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Fortinet from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore set a $165.00 target price on Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.91.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT stock opened at $153.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $156.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.87. The company has a market capitalization of $112.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.05, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.55 and a 1-year high of $172.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet Profile

Fortinet, Inc (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a multinational cybersecurity company that develops and delivers integrated security solutions for enterprise, service provider and government customers worldwide. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company was co?founded by Ken Xie and Michael Xie. Ken Xie serves as chairman and chief executive officer, and the company operates through a global sales, channel and services organization to support customers across the Americas, EMEA and Asia?Pacific.

Fortinet’s product portfolio centers on network security appliances and software, with its FortiGate next?generation firewalls and the FortiOS operating system forming a core platform.