Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 26,875 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $4,129,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth $36,106,000. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at about $2,843,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $2,280,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $1,227,000. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter worth about $944,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet Federal, a wholly owned subsidiary, earned CMMC Level 2 certification after validating 110 NIST SP 800-171 controls. The certification could improve Fortinet’s credibility with U.S. government agencies and defense contractors seeking compliant cybersecurity providers. Fortinet Federal’s New CMMC Level 2 Certification
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to point to platform adoption, artificial-intelligence security products, product expansion and CMMC-related demand as potential growth drivers across enterprise and government markets. Fortinet Stock Surges on Security Platform Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: A new multi-year sponsorship agreement with Stanford Athletics supports Fortinet’s brand visibility, although the financial impact is likely modest compared with its core business. Stanford Athletics and Fortinet Sponsorship
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet recently moved above its 20-day moving average, signaling short-term technical momentum. However, technical support can also encourage profit-taking after a large advance. Fortinet Crosses Above Its 20-Day Moving Average
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation is a key overhang. With the stock near its annual high and trading at roughly 58 times earnings, investors may be demanding continued strong execution, leaving limited room for disappointment. Fortinet Valuation Leaves Limited Margin of Safety
• Negative Sentiment: Insider-trading data shows executives made no open-market purchases and reported multiple sales over the past six months. In addition, the reported median analyst price target of $115 is below recent trading levels, reinforcing concerns that expectations may have become excessive.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FTNT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Compass Point set a $100.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore set a $165.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings cut Fortinet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 161,482 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 329,142 shares of company stock worth $50,731,178. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $166.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $157.68 and a 200-day moving average of $120.40. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $173.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $121.80 billion, a PE ratio of 58.45, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 1.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet Profile

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.