Lazard Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT – Free Report) by 21.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,123 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 13,362 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $585,000. HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 29.1% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,136,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Fortinet by 27.4% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,989 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $15,328,000 after purchasing an additional 31,202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
FTNT has been the subject of a number of research reports. DZ Bank cut shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price objective (up from $160.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, July 13th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Arete Research set a $104.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.91.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $572,141.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,923,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,453,213,448.40. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 160,632 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.58, for a total transaction of $23,384,806.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,711,717,915.76. The trade was a 0.30% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 318,387 shares of company stock worth $43,403,063 in the last 90 days. 17.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Key Headlines Impacting Fortinet
Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Strong Q2 results: Fortinet reported earnings of $0.90 per share versus the $0.75 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 25.6% year over year to $2.05 billion, above the $1.89 billion forecast. Product revenue reportedly increased 52%, and billings climbed 33% to $2.37 billion. Fortinet lifts annual revenue forecast on strong cybersecurity demand
- Positive Sentiment: Guidance raised: Management lifted its full-year 2026 revenue outlook, signaling confidence that enterprise spending on security will remain strong amid rising data-security incidents. Analysts also highlighted pricing strength and solid execution. Fortinet raises revenue outlook after strong Q2 and new AI product push
- Positive Sentiment: AI and platform momentum: Demand for Fortinet’s AI-security offerings, SASE Firewall, security platforms and operational-technology products is providing additional growth catalysts as companies expand AI infrastructure. FTNT Q2 earnings call highlights SASE Firewall growth
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst target increases: Rosenblatt raised its target to $195 and BTIG raised its target to $203, both with Buy ratings. Citigroup also increased its target to $185, reinforcing the favorable near-term reaction to the earnings report. Analysts boost forecasts following upbeat Q2 earnings
- Neutral Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its target to $160 but retained a Neutral rating, while William Blair maintained a Hold rating, citing questions about how durable Fortinet’s pricing and growth advantages will be.
- Negative Sentiment: Valuation remains a risk after the stock’s substantial multiyear gain. At roughly 57 times earnings, shares may already reflect considerable optimism, leaving less room for disappointment. Fortinet stock seems stretched following its five-year run
Fortinet Stock Up 5.0%
Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $161.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $118.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.02, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $170.35. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.07.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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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