Vestcor Inc Boosts Stake in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Vestcor Inc lifted its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 62.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,409 shares of the software maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,511 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $3,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,152,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,354,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894,355 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,564,558 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $467,868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,132,109 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 30.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,575,662 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $636,962,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790,033 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,816,519 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $909,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,337 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total value of $18,749,786.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,163,508.84. The trade was a 60.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total transaction of $572,141.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,923,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,213,448.40. This represents a 0.04% 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. Insiders sold a total of 318,387 shares of company stock valued at $43,403,063 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Key Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS and revenue both coming in ahead of analyst forecasts, while management also raised full-year 2026 guidance.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are rewarding Fortinet’s AI security push, including new AI-focused products and its positioning as a converged security and networking platform.
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum remains strong after the earnings report, with commentary noting the stock has surged substantially over the past month and is continuing to attract attention from traders and growth investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles focused on whether the rally can continue, highlighting valuation questions and the need for future earnings estimates to keep improving.
• Negative Sentiment: There was a small insider sale by VP Michael Xie, though it was pre-arranged under a 10b5-1 plan and therefore appears more routine than concerning.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on FTNT shares. Barclays set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Stephens set a $115.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.69.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $144.68 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $150.07. The stock has a market cap of $106.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $103.59 and a 200-day moving average of $88.89. 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) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.The company had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 predict that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Fortinet

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.