Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 1,024,516 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,686,920 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,024,516 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.50% of Fortinet worth $7,684,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Saudi Central Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd raised its holdings in Fortinet by 2,184.6% in the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 41.4% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 355 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $80.15 on Wednesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $114.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 30.60% and a return on equity of 111.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.63 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.660-2.700 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.730-0.750 EPS. Research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FTNT. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Fortinet from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $95.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total transaction of $13,710,537.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,445,911,452.29. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.53, for a total value of $306,835.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,492,018 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $907,874,317.54. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Profile

Fortinet, Inc provides cybersecurity and convergence of networking and security solutions worldwide. It offers secure networking solutions focus on the convergence of networking and security; network firewall solutions that consist of FortiGate data centers, hyperscale, and distributed firewalls, as well as encrypted applications; wireless LAN solutions; and secure connectivity solutions, including FortiSwitch secure ethernet switches, FortiAP wireless local area network access points, FortiExtender 5G connectivity gateways, and other products.