Ethic Inc. Purchases 20,068 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. boosted its Fortinet stake by 46.7% in the fourth quarter, buying 20,068 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 63,041 shares worth about $5.0 million.
• Fortinet reported strong Q1 results, with revenue up 20.1% year over year, EPS topping estimates, and billings rising sharply; the company also raised its full-year guidance.
• Analysts turned more constructive after the earnings beat, with firms like Rosenblatt and BTIG raising ratings or price targets, though the overall Street view remains around Hold.

Ethic Inc. increased its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 46.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,041 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 20,068 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Fortinet were worth $5,006,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PDS Planning Inc increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 4,110 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Delta Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 5,250 shares of the software maker's stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.2% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 10,823 shares of the software maker's stock worth $910,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 481 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 4,888 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet delivered a strong Q1 beat, with revenue up 20% year over year, EPS ahead of estimates, billings up sharply, and full-year guidance raised, signaling stronger demand across cybersecurity and AI-related security products.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts turned more constructive, including BTIG’s upgrade to Buy, Rosenblatt’s Buy rating with a higher target, and Citi/Susquehanna/UBS/Piper all raising price targets to around the current share price or above, supporting bullish sentiment.
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary around Fortinet’s gains suggests the results helped dispel “AI disruption” fears and highlighted growing demand tied to a more complex threat environment, which is improving investor confidence in the company’s growth runway.
• Neutral Sentiment: Citigroup and Susquehanna raised their price target to $115 while maintaining Neutral ratings, implying limited upside from current levels even after the rally.
• Neutral Sentiment: RBC Capital and Needham kept Hold-type views, indicating that not all analysts see the valuation as compelling despite the improved fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: There were also insider sales by the CEO and a VP, which may temper enthusiasm somewhat, though these trades appear small relative to the stock’s recent move.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,927,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at $882,456,986.13. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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, CEO Ken Xie sold 5,355 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $476,059.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,978,004 shares in the company, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. The trade was a 0.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Weiss Ratings raised Fortinet from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BTIG Research raised shares of Fortinet from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.45.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $114.07 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.92. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $82.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.98. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $114.66.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.The firm's revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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 research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Fortinet

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FTNT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report).

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.