436,047 Shares in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Purchased by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 436,047 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $66,986,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Fortinet by 53.6% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 215 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 7,927 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 3.0% during the first quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,780 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 31.4% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 515 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wolfe Research set a $175.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.91.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $156.29 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $123.26. The company has a market cap of $114.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.55 and a 1-year high of $173.89.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) 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. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet was highlighted as a growth-at-a-reasonable-price (GARP) stock, with analysts pointing to its 2026 growth outlook, rising earnings estimates and expanding AI-security opportunity. Zacks.com featured highlights including Fortinet
• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet was also included among founder-led technology companies with long-term innovation and growth potential, reinforcing the investment case around its leadership and strategic direction. Founder-led companies redefining technology and growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Zacks features identify FTNT as a GARP candidate, suggesting analysts view its earnings and revenue prospects as attractive relative to its valuation and peer group. GARP stocks investors can consider
• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet continues to benefit from broader demand for AI-driven cybersecurity. Its latest reported quarter exceeded earnings and revenue estimates, with revenue increasing 25.6% year over year, supporting the bullish outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: ControlMonkey added backup and disaster-recovery support for Fortinet security configurations. The announcement improves recoverability for customers but appears unlikely to materially affect Fortinet’s near-term financial results. ControlMonkey extends recovery to the security stack
• Negative Sentiment: A sharp reaction to Palo Alto Networks’ results despite strong growth highlighted how demanding investor expectations have become for cybersecurity stocks. That sector-wide valuation risk may be limiting upside for Fortinet even amid favorable company-specific commentary. Cybersecurity stocks react to Palo Alto results

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.