Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT – Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 14,518,531 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,152,917,000.
Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several research firms have commented on FTNT. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Freedom Capital downgraded Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.69.
Fortinet Stock Up 6.4%
NASDAQ FTNT opened at $137.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.62. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $138.11. The stock has a market cap of $101.08 billion, a PE ratio of 53.27, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.92.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.
Insider Activity at Fortinet
In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at $882,456,986.13. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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 5,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $476,059.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,978,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,709,744,555.60. This represents a 0.01% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 153,848 shares of company stock worth $19,446,115. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.
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.
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