California State Teachers Retirement System Grows Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System dramatically increased its Fortinet stake by 15,545.1% in the second quarter, ending with 145.1 million shares worth approximately $22.3 billion, or 19.78% of the company.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with revenue up 25.6% year over year to $2.05 billion and EPS of $0.90, beating analyst expectations of $0.75. The company issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $3.410–$3.470.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and average price target of $150.91 versus the stock’s opening price of $156.29. CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie sold shares under pre-arranged plans to cover tax obligations.

California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 15,545.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 145,097,777 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 144,170,346 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 19.78% of Fortinet worth $22,289,921,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Fortinet by 408.3% in the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 305 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Burk Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $190.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $163.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays set a $190.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,616,486,029.52. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $156.29 on Tuesday. 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 simple moving average of $158.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.78. The company has a market cap of $114.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.06. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.55 and a 12-month high of $173.89.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%.The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. Fortinet's revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Fortinet Company 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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