35,628 Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group reduced its Fortinet stake by 2.4%, selling 35,628 shares during the third quarter and retaining 1.47 million shares worth approximately $262.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 83.71% of Fortinet.
• Fortinet reported strong third-quarter results, with revenue rising 20.5% year over year to $2.08 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.91, above estimates. Management raised its 2026 guidance and authorized an additional $1.2 billion share-repurchase program.
• Despite the earnings beat, investors remain concerned about slower service-revenue growth, a decelerating outlook and Fortinet’s premium valuation. Several analysts cut price targets or ratings, while shares opened at $136.08 against a consensus target of $147.94.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,469,428 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 35,628 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.20% of Fortinet worth $262,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $98,915,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 6.8% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 849,655 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $151,884,000 after purchasing an additional 53,878 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $8,192,000. Intrua Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $386,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 150.2% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 33,884 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,057,000 after buying an additional 20,342 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of approximately $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding consensus estimates. Billings increased 29%, while operating margins reached a record. Fortinet Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion in revenue and $3.54-$3.58 in EPS. Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $0.93-$0.95 also exceeds the consensus estimate of $0.86. Fortinet Raises Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $1.2 billion in share repurchases, and quarterly free cash flow was approximately $865 million. Analysts at TD Cowen, Rosenblatt and Truist retained bullish ratings despite lowering their price targets. Fortinet Adds to Buyback Program
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet is technically oversold after a sharp multi-week decline, while rising earnings estimates could support a rebound. However, the technical signal does not resolve concerns about the company’s growth mix. Fortinet May See a Trend Reversal
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13%, versus 37% growth in product revenue. Investors are concerned that hardware sales tied to AI infrastructure are not converting into recurring services quickly enough, reducing near-term revenue visibility. The Real Reason Fortinet Dropped
• Negative Sentiment: Management lowered its services outlook, while fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies growth deceleration from the third quarter. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs and longer component lead times added to investor concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target to $115 and assigned an underweight rating; Susquehanna lowered its target to $145 and rated the shares neutral. Other firms, including Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and Scotiabank, also reduced targets or ratings. Analysts Cut Fortinet Forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: The broader technology and cybersecurity sell-off is amplifying the reaction, despite a major cryptocurrency hack highlighting demand for digital security. Investors are also questioning whether Fortinet’s premium valuation remains justified as growth slows.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was 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. Insiders sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 over the last 90 days. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $136.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $171.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $128.28. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.55 and a 1 year high of $197.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FTNT. Capital One Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Mizuho set a $118.00 price target on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America downgraded Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $140.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $147.94.

Fortinet Profile

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments and operational technology systems. The company's portfolio includes next-generation firewalls, secure networking products, endpoint security, web application security, email security, identity and access solutions, and security information and event management tools.

Its product offerings include FortiGate network security appliances and cloud-based firewalls, along with FortiSwitch, FortiAP and FortiExtender solutions for secure connectivity.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.