Natixis Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its Fortinet stake by 19.5% in Q3, selling 69,760 shares and ending the period with 287,800 shares valued at about $24.2 million.
• On Feb. 2, insiders sold large positions — VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares (~$27.94M) and CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares (~$14.31M) — with corporate insiders now owning roughly 18% of the stock.
• Fortinet beat quarterly expectations with $0.81 EPS vs. $0.74 expected and $1.91B revenue (up 14.8% YoY), issued Q1 and FY26 EPS guidance, and carries a consensus analyst rating of Hold with an average price target of $88.62.

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 287,800 shares of the software maker's stock after selling 69,760 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Fortinet were worth $24,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,354,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894,355 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,183,161 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $3,085,244,000 after acquiring an additional 862,468 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,916,974 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,783,091,000 after acquiring an additional 828,569 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at about $1,640,900,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 7.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,248,182 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $977,718,000 after purchasing an additional 677,654 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $27,935,690.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 10,210,282 shares of the company's stock, valued at $831,321,160.44. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $14,308,506.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 target price (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $90.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $88.62.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $84.20 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $80.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.58. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $109.33. The firm has a market cap of $62.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current 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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