Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Stock Position Lifted by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 466,587 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 30,540 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $83,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Burk Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter worth $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 102.5% during the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. NFSG Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Timbuktu Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth $31,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of approximately $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding consensus estimates. Billings increased 29%, while operating margins reached a record. Fortinet Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion in revenue and $3.54-$3.58 in EPS. Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $0.93-$0.95 also exceeds the consensus estimate of $0.86. Fortinet Raises Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $1.2 billion in share repurchases, and quarterly free cash flow was approximately $865 million. Analysts at TD Cowen, Rosenblatt and Truist retained bullish ratings despite lowering their price targets. Fortinet Adds to Buyback Program
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet is technically oversold after a sharp multi-week decline, while rising earnings estimates could support a rebound. However, the technical signal does not resolve concerns about the company’s growth mix. Fortinet May See a Trend Reversal
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13%, versus 37% growth in product revenue. Investors are concerned that hardware sales tied to AI infrastructure are not converting into recurring services quickly enough, reducing near-term revenue visibility. The Real Reason Fortinet Dropped
• Negative Sentiment: Management lowered its services outlook, while fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies growth deceleration from the third quarter. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs and longer component lead times added to investor concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target to $115 and assigned an underweight rating; Susquehanna lowered its target to $145 and rated the shares neutral. Other firms, including Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and Scotiabank, also reduced targets or ratings. Analysts Cut Fortinet Forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: The broader technology and cybersecurity sell-off is amplifying the reaction, despite a major cryptocurrency hack highlighting demand for digital security. Investors are also questioning whether Fortinet’s premium valuation remains justified as growth slows.

Fortinet Trading Down 2.2%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $136.08 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.55 and a 52 week high of $197.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $171.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a PE ratio of 44.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. The company’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FTNT. DZ Bank cut Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 target price on Fortinet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $145.00 price target (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Fortinet from $175.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.94.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,045,529.28. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last quarter. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments and operational technology systems. The company’s portfolio includes next-generation firewalls, secure networking products, endpoint security, web application security, email security, identity and access solutions, and security information and event management tools.

Its product offerings include FortiGate network security appliances and cloud-based firewalls, along with FortiSwitch, FortiAP and FortiExtender solutions for secure connectivity.