Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Stock: ProShare Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 849,655 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,878 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Fortinet worth $151,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,192,000. Intrua Financial LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $386,000. Summit Global Investments grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 150.2% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 33,884 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,057,000 after purchasing an additional 20,342 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 123.5% in the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 4,028 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 2,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,113 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total transaction of $8,911,425.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,045,529.28. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 have sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $186.00 target price (down from $203.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Stephens raised their price objective on Fortinet from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.94.

Fortinet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $136.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $171.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $128.28. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.55 and a 12-month high of $197.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet News Summary

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 Profile

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.