WealthCare Asset Management LLC Makes New $2.50 Million Investment in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Key Points

• WealthCare Asset Management initiated a $2.50 million Fortinet position by purchasing 14,000 shares, while institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 83.71% of the stock.
• Fortinet insiders sold $36.2 million of stock in the latest quarter, including sales by CEO Ken Xie and COO John Whittle under pre-arranged trading plans.
• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating with a $162.36 target price, below the stock’s recent $183.33 opening price, despite strong quarterly results and 25.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

WealthCare Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,000 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $2,503,000. Fortinet makes up 2.2% of WealthCare Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at $9,561,650,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker's stock worth $940,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker's stock worth $788,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $1,432,842,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $979,062,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value 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. This represents a 35.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FTNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $145.00 target price (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Mizuho set a $160.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Truist Financial set a $200.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $162.36.

Key Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet announced the FortiGuard Inline AI Security Service, a cloud-delivered offering that provides AI-specific inspection and guardrails for FortiGate firewalls. The product strengthens Fortinet’s positioning in the rapidly growing AI-security market and could support additional recurring revenue. Fortinet Expands AI Security with the FortiGuard Inline AI Security Service
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support has improved, including a JPMorgan price-target increase and a recently reported analyst upgrade. These actions likely contributed to Fortinet’s recent share-price strength and improved investor sentiment. Fortinet Stock Gets Price Target Bump from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Fortinet Stock Jumps After Analyst Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Broader demand for AI-powered cybersecurity is rising as companies face more sophisticated digital threats. Fortinet is being highlighted among potential beneficiaries, supporting the sector’s investment narrative. Top AI-Powered Cybersecurity Stocks to Buy as Digital Threats Rise
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet approaches third-quarter earnings with demand for SASE firewall products, AI-security expansion and share repurchases as potential positives. At the same time, investors are watching for margin pressure and whether its elevated valuation is justified. Fortinet Stock Before Q3 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Some Wall Street brokerages maintain a “Hold” rating, signaling that analysts see limited near-term upside after the recent rally. Fortinet also trades at a demanding earnings multiple, increasing sensitivity to an earnings or guidance miss. Fortinet Stock Rated Hold by Wall Street Brokerages

Fortinet Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $183.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $134.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.55, a PEG ratio of 3.36 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. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $171.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.69. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.55 and a 12-month high of $197.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.10 EPS for the current year.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments and operational technology systems. The company's portfolio includes next-generation firewalls, secure networking products, endpoint security, web application security, email security, identity and access solutions, and security information and event management tools.

Its product offerings include FortiGate network security appliances and cloud-based firewalls, along with FortiSwitch, FortiAP and FortiExtender solutions for secure connectivity.

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.