Traders Buy Large Volume of Fortinet Put Options (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 22,368 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 66% compared to the average volume of 13,493 put options.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $14,308,506.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $27,935,690.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 10,210,282 shares in the company, valued at $831,321,160.44. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,034,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 402,278 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,824,000 after purchasing an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 44,152 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,506,000 after purchasing an additional 14,076 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 465.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 756,651 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,255,000 after purchasing an additional 622,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT traded down $0.95 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $81.45. 1,255,977 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,662,438. The company has a market capitalization of $60.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.00. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $109.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $81.79.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Scotiabank cut shares of Fortinet from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $85.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.68.

Fortinet Company 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.