Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Bought by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Key Points

• Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its Fortinet stake by 61.7% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 35,600 shares and bringing its total to 93,293 shares worth about $7.41 million.
• Insider selling was notable, with COO John Whittle selling 146,015 shares and CEO Ken Xie selling 5,355 shares; insiders have sold 153,848 shares worth about $19.45 million over the last three months.
• Fortinet beat earnings expectations for the latest quarter, reporting $0.82 EPS on $1.85 billion in revenue, while analysts currently rate the stock a Hold with a consensus price target of $102.69.

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 61.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,293 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 35,600 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Fortinet were worth $7,408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total value of $18,749,786.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 94,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,163,508.84. The trade was a 60.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 5,355 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total value of $476,059.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,978,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. This trade represents a 0.01% 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. Insiders have sold 153,848 shares of company stock worth $19,446,115 in the last three months. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $90.00 price objective on Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut Fortinet from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $102.69.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $133.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $98.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.72, a PEG ratio of 3.68 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. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $134.91. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $94.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.58.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.The company's revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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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