Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Stock Holdings Decreased by First Merchants Corp

Key Points

• First Merchants Corp cut its Fortinet stake by 25% in the third quarter, selling 24,446 shares and retaining 73,264 shares valued at approximately $13.1 million. Institutional investors collectively own 83.71% of Fortinet.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with revenue rising 25.6% year over year to $2.05 billion and EPS of $0.90, exceeding analyst expectations. The company issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $3.41–$3.47.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Fortinet has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $159.09, below its recent $181.91 opening price. Insiders have also sold $36.2 million of stock over the past 90 days.

First Merchants Corp lessened its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,264 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 24,446 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Fortinet were worth $13,097,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $788,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at about $656,852,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total transaction of $8,911,425.60. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,045,529.28. The trade was a 35.71% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Capital One Financial increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $163.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "positive" rating and issued a $136.00 target price (up from $133.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on Fortinet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $159.09.

Trending Headlines about Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet and Atos expanded their longstanding relationship into a global cybersecurity framework for hybrid- and multi-cloud environments. The arrangement combines Fortinet’s security products with Atos’ managed-security services and consulting, potentially broadening Fortinet’s enterprise reach and recurring services opportunity. Fortinet Expands Global Cybersecurity Framework
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted Fortinet’s SASE growth, rising services revenue and comparatively lower valuation versus Cloudflare, supporting the view that the company remains a long-term cybersecurity growth candidate. NET vs. FTNT
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention is also focused on upcoming earnings. Fortinet’s most recent reported quarter showed revenue growth and earnings above analyst expectations, although the stock’s elevated valuation leaves the market sensitive to any guidance or results that fall short of expectations. Fortinet Shares Jump with Earnings on Horizon
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its Fortinet price target but maintained an “underweight” rating; the new target remains below the stock’s current level, signaling concern that expectations may be too high.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that OpenAI could acquire a cybersecurity startup pressured major cybersecurity stocks, including Fortinet. The possibility of a well-funded new competitor is raising concerns about future pricing, innovation and market-share dynamics across the sector. OpenAI Cybersecurity Deal Impacts Sector

Fortinet Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $181.91 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $169.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.66. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $197.13. The company has a market capitalization of $133.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.05, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.10 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops and provides cybersecurity products and services for businesses, governments, and service providers. The company's portfolio is designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments, and operational technology from cyber threats.

Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiSASE secure access service edge solutions. Fortinet also provides centralized management and analytics through products such as FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, along with security operations, threat intelligence, and other subscription-based services through its FortiGuard portfolio.

Founded in 2000, Fortinet serves customers globally through direct sales, channel partners, and managed security service providers.

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