Empowered Funds LLC Purchases New Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 327,582 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $50,323,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 53.6% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 215 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 515 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 5,250 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity-sector rally lifted sentiment. Fortinet appears to be benefiting from strong quarterly results and upbeat outlooks from major cybersecurity peers, creating a positive read-through for comparable companies. The company’s own recent results showed 25.6% year-over-year revenue growth to $2.05 billion and earnings above analyst expectations. Why Fortinet Stock Is Up Today
• Positive Sentiment: CMMC Level 2 certification strengthens Fortinet’s federal positioning. Fortinet Federal, a wholly owned subsidiary, received certification after an independent assessment validated 110 NIST SP 800-171 security requirements for protecting Controlled Unclassified Information. The milestone may improve Fortinet’s ability to compete for U.S. government and defense-related contracts. Fortinet Federal Achieves CMMC Level 2 Certification
• Positive Sentiment: Operational momentum remains strong. Fortinet reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, with product revenue growth and higher full-year guidance reinforcing the company’s growth narrative. This provides a fundamental backdrop for the recent share-price strength.
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation is becoming a concern. An investment analysis highlighted Fortinet’s strong platform and cash generation but argued that the elevated valuation leaves limited margin of safety. With the shares near their 52-week high, additional gains may require continued execution and upward revisions to expectations. Fortinet Strong Platform and Cash Generation, but Valuation Leaves Limited Margin of Safety
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and mixed analyst views could limit upside. Reported insider activity showed executives selling shares without recorded open-market purchases during the past six months. Several analysts also maintain cautious ratings, and the reported median price target is below the current trading range, signaling potential valuation pressure.

Fortinet Stock Up 9.7%

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $172.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $126.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $157.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.08. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.55 and a 52-week high of $173.89.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $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, analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 329,142 shares of company stock valued at $50,731,178. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FTNT. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Fortinet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Barclays set a $190.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Fortinet from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.91.

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.