Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Holdings Raised by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 466,587 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,540 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned approximately 0.06% of Fortinet worth $83,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 16,403 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,932,000 after buying an additional 2,446 shares during the period. Birinyi Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth approximately $4,338,000. Partners Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth approximately $765,000. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Fortinet by 244.0% in the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,828 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,187,000 after acquiring an additional 12,645 shares during the period. Finally, Founders Financial Securities LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth approximately $987,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $136.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $128.28. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.55 and a fifty-two week high of $197.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $145.00 target price (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Fortinet from $118.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. DZ Bank downgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $147.94.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

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.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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 ninety days, insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Company 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.