Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) CEO Sells $20,881,366.73 in Stock

Key Points

• Fortinet CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares for about $20.9 million under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards. The sale reduced his ownership by 0.30%; he still holds about 53 million shares.
• Fortinet reported quarterly EPS of $0.91, topping the $0.86 analyst consensus, and revenue of $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $147.94; several firms recently maintained neutral or hold ratings or lowered targets.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.31, for a total value of $20,881,366.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,849,857,423.32. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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.

Fortinet Stock Performance

FTNT stock traded up $1.90 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $128.11. 5,964,432 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,889,527. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $197.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 182.65%. Fortinet's revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Verus Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $322,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,948 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,778,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $643,000. Providence First Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth approximately $958,000. Finally, Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,689 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $1,196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $145.00 price target (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $140.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on Fortinet from $163.00 to $140.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $147.94.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Demand for cybersecurity solutions remains a potential tailwind as businesses adopt AI, move to the cloud, and accelerate digital transformation. One article also says the spread of agentic AI is benefiting the cybersecurity industry. Article: 3 Security Stocks to Buy Now Amid the Flourishing Industry Trend Article: Why Is Fortinet Stock Falling, and is it a Buying Opportunity?
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Fortinet as a growth stock, while a separate list of large-cap technology stocks selected by billionaire investors ranked FTNT eighth. These are supportive signals, though neither is a new company announcement. Article: Here's Why Fortinet Is a Strong Growth Stock Article: Fortinet Crashed 26% in a Day: Did Wall Street Get It Wrong?
• Neutral Sentiment: Excite Cyber achieved Fortinet Advanced Partner status, a modest ecosystem development with no stated financial impact for Fortinet. Article: Excite Cyber Gains Fortinet Advanced Partner Status
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage describes a sharp selloff in Fortinet and other cybersecurity stocks amid broader technology weakness and questions about how much investors will pay for growth as AI infrastructure costs rise. Article: Fortinet Crashed 26% in a Day: Did Wall Street Get It Wrong? Article: Cybersecurity Stocks Slide
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst actions add pressure: Susquehanna reduced its price target, Wedbush maintained a Hold rating, and a report cited a 10.56% decline in Fortinet’s consensus target. Article: Fortinet Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Susquehanna Article: Wedbush Reaffirms Its Hold Rating

Fortinet Company Profile

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.

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