Key Points
- Fortinet CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares for about $20.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards. The sale reduced his stake by 0.30%; he still owns nearly 53 million shares.
- Fortinet beat quarterly estimates, reporting earnings of $0.91 per share versus $0.86 expected and revenue of $2.08 billion versus $2.06 billion. Revenue grew 20.5% year over year.
- Analysts’ average rating is Hold, with a consensus price target of $147.94. The article also notes broader selling pressure on cybersecurity stocks amid valuation and AI-infrastructure cost concerns.
Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.49, for a total transaction of $404,138.29. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,284,328,436.40. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 Price Performance
NASDAQ FTNT opened at $128.11 on Wednesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.55 and a 52 week high of $197.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $94.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $170.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.78.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The company 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 152.72%. Fortinet's revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.20 EPS for the current year.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Burk Holdings LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Timbuktu Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research firms recently commented on FTNT. Wolfe Research set a $175.00 target price on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $145.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Roth Capital boosted their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Fortinet from $160.00 to $115.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Yorkville Ives initiated coverage on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $225.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $147.94.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on FTNT
Trending Headlines about Fortinet
Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Cybersecurity demand associated with agentic AI is described as a tailwind for the industry. Fortinet was also highlighted as a growth stock by Zacks, though the coverage does not identify a new company-specific catalyst. Why Is Fortinet Stock Falling, and is it a Buying Opportunity? Here's Why Fortinet is a Strong Growth Stock
- Positive Sentiment: Fortinet ranked eighth on a list of large-cap technology stocks favored by billionaire investors, offering a supportive sentiment signal, although the article also discusses investor concerns about technology valuations and AI infrastructure costs. Fortinet ranked among billionaire-backed tech stocks
- Neutral Sentiment: CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares, and VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares. Both transactions were under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards; the CEO’s sale reduced his direct stake by 0.30%, while the VP’s reduced his by 0.03%. CEO Form 4 filing VP Form 4 filing
- Negative Sentiment: Cybersecurity shares have faced broad selling pressure, with Fortinet among the names cited in the sector decline. Concerns about technology valuations and the cost of expanding AI infrastructure could continue to weigh on sentiment despite longer-term demand prospects. Cybersecurity stocks sell off
Fortinet Company Profile
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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