Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 893,190 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Bank of New York Mellon increased its Fortinet stake by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 893,190 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 14.5 million shares worth about $1.15 billion.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.82 and revenue of $1.85 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations, while revenue rose 20.1% year over year.
• Insider activity was mixed but tilted toward selling, as COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares and VP Michael Xie sold a smaller block; insiders sold 153,848 shares total over the last three months.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,504,597 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 893,190 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.95% of Fortinet worth $1,151,810,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,152,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,354,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894,355 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Fortinet by 62.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,564,558 shares of the software maker's stock worth $467,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,109 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Fortinet by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,575,662 shares of the software maker's stock worth $636,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,816,519 shares of the software maker's stock worth $909,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total value of $220,269.42. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at $882,456,986.13. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total value of $18,749,786.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,163,508.84. This represents a 60.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 153,848 shares of company stock worth $19,446,115 over the last three months. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, May 7th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $102.69.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $148.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market capitalization of $109.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 1.11. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $149.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $98.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.10.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.Fortinet's revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.58 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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