Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) VP Michael Xie Sells 3,121 Shares of Company Stock

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.49, for a total value of $404,138.29. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,284,328,436.40. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT traded up $1.90 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $128.11. The stock had a trading volume of 5,964,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,889,527. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $170.80 and a 200-day moving average of $128.52. The firm has a market cap of $94.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.59, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 182.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $118.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on Fortinet from $102.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.94.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter worth about $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $979,062,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $940,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $788,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Demand for cybersecurity solutions remains a potential tailwind as businesses adopt AI, move to the cloud, and accelerate digital transformation. One article also says the spread of agentic AI is benefiting the cybersecurity industry. Article: 3 Security Stocks to Buy Now Amid the Flourishing Industry Trend Article: Why Is Fortinet Stock Falling, and is it a Buying Opportunity?
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Fortinet as a growth stock, while a separate list of large-cap technology stocks selected by billionaire investors ranked FTNT eighth. These are supportive signals, though neither is a new company announcement. Article: Here’s Why Fortinet Is a Strong Growth Stock Article: Fortinet Crashed 26% in a Day: Did Wall Street Get It Wrong?
• Neutral Sentiment: Excite Cyber achieved Fortinet Advanced Partner status, a modest ecosystem development with no stated financial impact for Fortinet. Article: Excite Cyber Gains Fortinet Advanced Partner Status
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage describes a sharp selloff in Fortinet and other cybersecurity stocks amid broader technology weakness and questions about how much investors will pay for growth as AI infrastructure costs rise. Article: Fortinet Crashed 26% in a Day: Did Wall Street Get It Wrong? Article: Cybersecurity Stocks Slide
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst actions add pressure: Susquehanna reduced its price target, Wedbush maintained a Hold rating, and a report cited a 10.56% decline in Fortinet’s consensus target. Article: Fortinet Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Susquehanna Article: Wedbush Reaffirms Its Hold Rating

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.