Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Reduces Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,919 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 4,204 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total value of $220,269.42. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,927,517 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $882,456,986.13. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total transaction of $18,749,786.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 94,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,163,508.84. This represents a 60.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 153,848 shares of company stock valued at $19,446,115 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $127.93 on Thursday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $134.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $94.94 and a 200-day moving average of $85.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.73 billion, a PE ratio of 49.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on FTNT. Evercore set a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $125.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.69.

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.