Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 174,688 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $30,738,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. Birinyi Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter worth about $4,338,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $492,000. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. raised its position in Fortinet by 83.8% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. now owns 22,326 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,991,000 after acquiring an additional 10,180 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 35.5% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 32,402 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,792,000 after acquiring an additional 8,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 53.1% in the second quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 49,058 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,537,000 after acquiring an additional 17,018 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.49, for a total transaction of $404,138.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,328,436.40. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total transaction of $478,377.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 221,304 shares of company stock valued at $30,675,309. 17.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $128.11 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.55 and a 12-month high of $197.13. The business’s 50 day moving average is $170.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $128.78. The company has a market capitalization of $94.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The business’s revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.20 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Key Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity demand associated with agentic AI is described as a tailwind for the industry. Fortinet was also highlighted as a growth stock by Zacks, though the coverage does not identify a new company-specific catalyst. Why Is Fortinet Stock Falling, and is it a Buying Opportunity? Here’s Why Fortinet is a Strong Growth Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet ranked eighth on a list of large-cap technology stocks favored by billionaire investors, offering a supportive sentiment signal, although the article also discusses investor concerns about technology valuations and AI infrastructure costs. Fortinet ranked among billionaire-backed tech stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares, and VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares. Both transactions were under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards; the CEO’s sale reduced his direct stake by 0.30%, while the VP’s reduced his by 0.03%. CEO Form 4 filing VP Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Cybersecurity shares have faced broad selling pressure, with Fortinet among the names cited in the sector decline. Concerns about technology valuations and the cost of expanding AI infrastructure could continue to weigh on sentiment despite longer-term demand prospects. Cybersecurity stocks sell off

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho set a $118.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Roth Capital lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $185.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Fortinet from $175.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.94.

Fortinet 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.