Key Points
- Fortinet COO John Whittle sold 56,700 shares in two transactions for approximately $9.4 million, reducing his direct ownership by about 35.7%. The sales were made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
- Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $0.90 per share and revenue of $2.05 billion, exceeding analyst estimates; revenue increased 25.6% year over year.
- FTNT shares were trading near their 52-week high, with a valuation above 60 times earnings. Analysts hold a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $150.91, below the reported share price.
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.
John Whittle also recently made the following trade(s):
- On Monday, September 14th, John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of Fortinet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60.
Fortinet Price Performance
NASDAQ FTNT opened at $171.77 on Thursday. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $174.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $159.72 and a 200 day moving average of $127.97. The company has a market capitalization of $126.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.48, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.28.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%.Fortinet's revenue was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms have commented on FTNT. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $185.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. BTIG Research increased their target price on Fortinet from $186.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Barclays set a $190.00 target price on Fortinet and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, nineteen have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $150.91.
View Our Latest Research Report on FTNT
Fortinet News Summary
Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Fortinet opened a company-owned Innovation Hub in New York City featuring cybersecurity training labs, customer demonstration areas, executive briefing facilities and a Fortinet Cloud point of presence. The facility is intended to deepen relationships with customers and partners and expand Fortinet’s U.S. presence. Fortinet New York Innovation Hub announcement
- Positive Sentiment: Fortinet was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewall, supporting the company’s competitive positioning in an important cybersecurity market.
- Positive Sentiment: FTNT recently moved above its 20-day and 50-day moving averages, signals that technical traders generally interpret as improving short-term momentum and a potential bullish trend. Fortinet moving average analysis
- Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet will participate with Broadcom, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks and Sophos in SE Labs’ new independent PIVOT security-testing program. Results are expected in early 2027, so the immediate financial impact is unclear.
- Negative Sentiment: COO John Whittle sold a combined 56,700 FTNT shares for approximately $9.4 million, reducing his direct ownership by about 35.7%. Both transactions were executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which reduces the significance of the sales as a discretionary bearish signal but may still weigh on sentiment. SEC insider trading filing
- Negative Sentiment: FTNT’s valuation remains demanding, with a price-to-earnings ratio above 60 and shares near their 52-week high. That leaves the stock vulnerable to profit-taking or disappointment despite strong fundamentals, including recent revenue growth, earnings beats and fiscal 2026 guidance.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Burk Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 102.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 164 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Timbuktu Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 53.6% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 215 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Fortinet Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect enterprise, small and midsize business, service provider, and government networks. Its portfolio covers network security, endpoint protection, cloud security, secure access service edge (SASE), security operations, and zero-trust access.
The company's offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer management and analytics tools.
Further Reading
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