Willis Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT – Free Report) by 40.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 183,300 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 52,852 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $15,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Fortinet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,686,920 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,684,461,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024,516 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,183,161 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,085,244,000 after buying an additional 862,468 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 5.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,916,974 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,783,091,000 after buying an additional 828,569 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $1,640,900,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Fortinet by 7.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,248,182 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $977,718,000 after acquiring an additional 677,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
FTNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays set a $88.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Fortinet from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.11.
Key Headlines Impacting Fortinet
Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — EPS $0.81 vs. $0.74 and revenue $1.91B; billings and product growth (Unified SASE billings +40%) were highlighted, supporting the company’s competitive positioning and near?term momentum. Fortinet Reports Strong Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
- Positive Sentiment: Fortinet raised FY?2026 EPS guidance to $2.94–3.00 (above Street consensus of ~2.79), which supports longer?term earnings visibility and likely underpinned earlier upside in the stock. Fortinet Inc. (FTNT) Stock Rises on Q4 2025 Earnings
- Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt boosted its price target to $105 and lifted to a Buy, indicating upbeat analyst conviction and implying material upside from current levels. Benzinga
- Positive Sentiment: Press coverage argues Fortinet can dodge broader tech weakness after the earnings beat, suggesting the stock could outperform peers if demand holds. Fortinet Stock Rises After Earnings Beat. Why It Can Dodge the Tech Selloff.
- Neutral Sentiment: Q1 guidance was given as $0.59–0.63 EPS (street ~0.62) and revenue range near consensus — effectively mixed: FY guide looks strong, but the Q1 range is only roughly in line. View Press Release
- Neutral Sentiment: Some brokers are cautious: Jefferies expected only a modest beat and remains cautious on 2026, and Robert W. Baird reiterated a Hold — mixed analyst reactions may limit immediate upside. Jefferies Sees Modest Q4 Beat for Fortinet (FTNT), Remains Cautious on 2026
- Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales: the CEO sold about $14.3M and a VP sold about $27.9M in company stock — sizable insider disposals can create short?term selling pressure or raise governance/insider?confidence questions. Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) CEO Sells $14,308,506.54 in Stock Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) VP Sells $27,935,690.52 in Stock
- Negative Sentiment: Some analysts have trimmed ratings or reassessed 2026 growth expectations amid macro and service?revenue cadence concerns, which can cap multiple expansion despite strong headline results. Fortinet (FTNT) Downgraded as Analysts Reassess 2026 Growth Outlook
Insider Activity at Fortinet
In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares in the company, valued at $4,184,693,666.70. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction 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 represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Fortinet Stock Performance
Shares of FTNT stock opened at $80.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $114.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.05.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 28.58%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
About Fortinet
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.
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