North Dakota State Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT – Free Report) by 31.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,120 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 7,726 shares during the quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its position in Fortinet by 22.5% during the 3rd quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 818 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $146,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Prism Planning Partners LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $135,000. Victory Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 31.3% in the third quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR lifted its position in Fortinet by 8.0% in the third quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR now owns 43,438 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,765,000 after purchasing an additional 3,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Fortinet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 400,132 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $71,528,000 after purchasing an additional 8,845 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.
Fortinet Trading Down 5.9%
FTNT opened at $174.08 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $127.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.30, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $197.13.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.10 EPS for the current year.
Insider Activity at Fortinet
In related 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 completion of the sale, the vice president 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 legal 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, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 over the last quarter. 17.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
FTNT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up from $116.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 price target (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.36.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Fortinet
Trending Headlines about Fortinet
Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20% year over year, while adjusted earnings reached $0.91 per share versus the roughly $0.85–$0.86 consensus estimate. Product revenue rose 37% to $765 million. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
- Positive Sentiment: Management raised its 2026 revenue-growth outlook to approximately 20% and issued fourth-quarter adjusted EPS guidance of $0.93 to $0.95, indicating continued profitability and operating momentum. Fortinet Fourth-Quarter EPS Guidance
- Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $1.2 billion for share repurchases, leaving $2 billion available under the program. The buyback may support per-share results and signals management’s confidence in the company’s long-term cash generation. Fortinet Adds to Share Repurchase Program
- Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet continues expanding its product portfolio with FortiLink SASE for distributed locations and FortiGuard Inline AI Security for AI-related threats. These offerings could create future recurring-revenue opportunities, but their near-term financial contribution remains uncertain. Fortinet Expands Unified SASE
- Negative Sentiment: Billings growth, a forward-looking indicator of future revenue, underwhelmed investors despite increasing 29% to $2.34 billion. Cybersecurity stocks also sold off broadly as growth slowed significantly in one of Fortinet’s business segments, raising concerns that premium valuation expectations may be difficult to sustain. Fortinet Stock Falls After Earnings
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.
Featured Stories
- Five stocks we like better than Fortinet
- Boeing Got Its MAX 10 Approval, But Q3 Delivered a Reality Check
- The Invisible AI Backbone: Corning’s AI Fiber Play
- Heavy Metal: Why Nucor Could Be an Overlooked AI Infrastructure Winner
- Why Tesla’s Upside Is About More Than a SpaceX Merger
Receive News & Ratings for Fortinet Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fortinet and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
