Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 41.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,123 shares of the software maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,809 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,944,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,354,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894,355 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,183,161 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,085,244,000 after purchasing an additional 862,468 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,916,974 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,783,091,000 after buying an additional 828,569 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $1,640,900,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 7.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,248,182 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $977,718,000 after buying an additional 677,654 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Evercore set a $80.00 price objective on Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.62.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $83.48 on Thursday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $109.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $80.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.60. The company has a market cap of $61.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.35, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. Fortinet’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. 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 predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $27,935,690.52. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 10,210,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $831,321,160.44. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 51,396,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet 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.