CFO Capital Management LLC Makes New $730,000 Investment in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• CFO Capital Management opened a new position in Fortinet, buying 9,193 shares valued at about $730,000 in the fourth quarter.
• Fortinet continues to attract major institutional interest, with large holders like State Street, Norges Bank, and Bank of New York Mellon increasing or adding to their stakes; 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutions and hedge funds.
• Despite strong recent earnings that beat estimates and raised guidance, insiders have been selling shares, including CEO Ken Xie and COO John Whittle, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with a target price of $107.77.

CFO Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 9,193 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. State Street Corp boosted its position in Fortinet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,660,558 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,493,860,000 after buying an additional 477,397 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at $1,152,917,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,504,597 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,151,810,000 after purchasing an additional 893,190 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,816,519 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $909,453,000 after buying an additional 1,568,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,907,686 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $627,949,000 after buying an additional 332,024 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 160,632 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.58, for a total value of $23,384,806.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,711,717,915.76. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total value of $18,749,786.15. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,163,508.84. This represents a 60.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 318,387 shares of company stock worth $43,403,063 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FTNT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Fortinet from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Compass Point set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twenty-five have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $107.77.

Fortinet Price Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $144.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.37. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $150.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm 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. Equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share 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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