Birinyi Associates Inc. Acquires 24,266 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Birinyi Associates acquired 24,266 Fortinet shares worth approximately $4.34 million during the third quarter, making Fortinet 1% of its portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 83.71% of the company.
• Fortinet reported strong third-quarter results, with revenue up 20.5% year over year to $2.08 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding estimates. Management raised its 2026 guidance and authorized an additional $1.2 billion share-repurchase program.
• Despite the strong results, investors remain concerned about slower service-revenue growth, decelerating guidance and Fortinet’s premium valuation. The stock opened at $136.08, while analysts maintained a broadly cautious consensus “Hold” rating and several lowered price targets.

Birinyi Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 24,266 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $4,338,000. Fortinet accounts for 1.0% of Birinyi Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Partners Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $765,000. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Fortinet by 244.0% during the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 17,828 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,187,000 after acquiring an additional 12,645 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $987,000. ERn Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. Finally, Choreo LLC grew its stake in Fortinet by 3.3% in the third quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 16,143 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,886,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Fortinet

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $163.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $186.00 target price (down from $203.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $210.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $147.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 have sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 2.2%

FTNT opened at $136.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $99.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company's 50 day moving average is $171.34 and its 200-day moving average is $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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. 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 company earned $0.74 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet Company 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.

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