Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Acquired by Willis Investment Counsel

Key Points

• Willis Investment Counsel increased its Fortinet stake by 7.9% in the third quarter, acquiring 18,300 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 249,169 shares valued at approximately $44.5 million.
• Fortinet shares recently traded at $171.02, while the company reported quarterly earnings of $0.90 per share and revenue of $2.05 billion, exceeding analyst expectations; revenue rose 25.6% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with a $161.39 price target. Meanwhile, insiders sold roughly $36.2 million of stock over the past 90 days, primarily through pre-arranged trading plans.

Willis Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 249,169 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 18,300 shares during the period. Fortinet accounts for about 1.9% of Willis Investment Counsel's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Fortinet were worth $44,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Puff Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 3.4% during the third quarter. Puff Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the software maker's stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the software maker's stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 12,648 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 4.8% during the third quarter. Dynamic Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,539 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Fortinet stock traded down $0.48 on Tuesday, reaching $171.02. The company had a trading volume of 1,108,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,811,558. The firm has a market cap of $125.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $169.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $143.93. 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 results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%. Fortinet's quarterly revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.10 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,045,529.28. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This trade 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FTNT shares. Mizuho set a $160.00 target price on Fortinet and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Roth Capital upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $165.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $161.39.

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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