Traders Buy Large Volume of Fortinet Put Options (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 22,368 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 66% compared to the average volume of 13,493 put options.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $81.45. The company had a trading volume of 1,255,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,662,438. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.79. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $109.33. The firm has a market cap of $60.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.00.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Truist Financial set a $88.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $27,935,690.52. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 10,210,282 shares in the company, valued at $831,321,160.44. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $14,308,506.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares in the company, valued at $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,034,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 402,278 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,824,000 after acquiring an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 465.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 756,651 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,255,000 after acquiring an additional 622,809 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 44,152 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,506,000 after acquiring an additional 14,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,177,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Fortinet

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.