Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 390,088 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management significantly increased its Fortinet stake in the fourth quarter, buying 390,088 additional shares and lifting its position by 658.8% to 449,302 shares worth about $35.7 million.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.82 beating estimates and revenue of $1.85 billion also topping forecasts, while revenue rose 20.1% year over year.
• Despite the upbeat results, mixed signals remain: two insiders sold shares in pre-arranged trades, and Wall Street’s consensus rating on FTNT is still only Hold, with an average price target of $100.45.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) by 658.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 449,302 shares of the software maker's stock after buying an additional 390,088 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned about 0.06% of Fortinet worth $35,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its holdings in Fortinet by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 4,972 shares of the software maker's stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in Fortinet by 156.6% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 390,492 shares of the software maker's stock worth $31,009,000 after acquiring an additional 238,299 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $472,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 230.3% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 2,375 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet Stock Up 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $126.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $92.68 billion, a PE ratio of 48.84, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.92. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $126.61. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $88.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 5,355 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,978,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. This represents a 0.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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. 17.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.45.

Fortinet 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding FTNT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.