Legal & General Group Plc Boosts Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its Fortinet stake by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 790,117 more shares and bringing its total holding to 6.9 million shares valued at about $548.4 million.
• Fortinet reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.82 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $1.85 billion versus $1.73 billion expected, while revenue rose 20.1% year over year.
• Despite the strong earnings, Wall Street remains cautious: analysts currently have a consensus Hold rating on FTNT, with an average price target of $101.83.

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,905,567 shares of the software maker's stock after acquiring an additional 790,117 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.93% of Fortinet worth $548,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trilogy Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 46.8% in the fourth quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 44,152 shares of the software maker's stock worth $3,506,000 after buying an additional 14,076 shares during the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter worth $1,177,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth $10,422,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,651,683 shares of the software maker's stock worth $138,874,000 after buying an additional 90,284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 156.6% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 390,492 shares of the software maker's stock worth $31,009,000 after buying an additional 238,299 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on FTNT. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $101.83.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $133.93 on Tuesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $134.19. The company has a market capitalization of $98.12 billion, a PE ratio of 51.71, a PEG ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day moving average of $93.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. The business's revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. 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, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 5,355 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $476,059.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,978,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,709,744,555.60. This trade represents a 0.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 153,848 shares of company stock worth $19,446,115. 17.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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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