Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Acquired by Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its Fortinet stake by 22.9% in Q4, buying 26,250 shares to own 140,650 shares valued at about $11.17 million.
• Fortinet beat Q4 expectations with $0.81 EPS (vs. $0.74 est.) and $1.91B revenue (up 14.8% year‑over‑year), and issued Q1 FY26 guidance of $0.590–0.630 and FY26 guidance of $2.940–3.000 EPS.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of “Hold” with a $88.38 consensus price target; institutional investors own ~83.7% of the stock while insiders hold ~18% and the CEO and VP recently sold small amounts under Rule 10b5‑1 plans to cover tax obligations.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 22.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,650 shares of the software maker's stock after purchasing an additional 26,250 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Fortinet were worth $11,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,354,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894,355 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Fortinet by 62.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,564,558 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $467,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,109 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Fortinet by 30.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,575,662 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $636,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,033 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Fortinet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,816,519 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $909,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Fortinet by 23.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,160,348 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $430,082,000 after acquiring an additional 969,899 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays set a $88.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Fortinet from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Arete Research set a $104.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $90.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $88.38.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total value of $220,269.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at $882,456,986.13. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $476,059.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,978,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. This represents 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. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $89.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $65.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.92. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $108.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $82.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.76.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current 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.

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