Willis Investment Counsel Purchases 10,813 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Willis Investment Counsel boosted its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 194,113 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $15,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,034,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Fortinet by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 402,278 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $33,824,000 after purchasing an additional 17,892 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 465.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 756,651 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,255,000 after purchasing an additional 622,809 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,177,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Fortinet by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,651,683 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $138,874,000 after purchasing an additional 90,284 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $83.51 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.98. The company has a market cap of $61.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.00. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $109.33.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. Fortinet had a return on equity of 124.21% and a net margin of 27.26%.The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $14,308,506.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. The trade was a 0.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the business’s 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 directly owned 10,210,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,321,160.44. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial set a $88.00 price target on Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 target price on Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.84.

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.