Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Stock: First Merchants Corp Trims Position

First Merchants Corp cut its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 73,264 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 24,446 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $13,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth about $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $788,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500,194 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth about $656,852,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $181.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $133.47 billion, a PE ratio of 64.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.03. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $142.66. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.55 and a 12-month high of $197.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.10 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FTNT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $160.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Capital One Financial increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $159.09.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet and Atos expanded their longstanding relationship into a global cybersecurity framework for hybrid- and multi-cloud environments. The arrangement combines Fortinet’s security products with Atos’ managed-security services and consulting, potentially broadening Fortinet’s enterprise reach and recurring services opportunity. Fortinet Expands Global Cybersecurity Framework
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted Fortinet’s SASE growth, rising services revenue and comparatively lower valuation versus Cloudflare, supporting the view that the company remains a long-term cybersecurity growth candidate. NET vs. FTNT
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention is also focused on upcoming earnings. Fortinet’s most recent reported quarter showed revenue growth and earnings above analyst expectations, although the stock’s elevated valuation leaves the market sensitive to any guidance or results that fall short of expectations. Fortinet Shares Jump with Earnings on Horizon
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its Fortinet price target but maintained an “underweight” rating; the new target remains below the stock’s current level, signaling concern that expectations may be too high.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that OpenAI could acquire a cybersecurity startup pressured major cybersecurity stocks, including Fortinet. The possibility of a well-funded new competitor is raising concerns about future pricing, innovation and market-share dynamics across the sector. OpenAI Cybersecurity Deal Impacts Sector

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total transaction of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Company Profile

Fortinet, Inc develops and provides cybersecurity products and services for businesses, governments, and service providers. The company’s portfolio is designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments, and operational technology from cyber threats.

Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiSASE secure access service edge solutions. Fortinet also provides centralized management and analytics through products such as FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, along with security operations, threat intelligence, and other subscription-based services through its FortiGuard portfolio.

Founded in 2000, Fortinet serves customers globally through direct sales, channel partners, and managed security service providers.