CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,100 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,152,917,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised 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 acquiring an additional 4,500,194 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 3,598,487 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,730,954 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $613,915,000 after acquiring an additional 2,166,396 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,109,016 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $326,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,777,115 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $572,141.08. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,923,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,213,448.40. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 160,632 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.58, for a total transaction of $23,384,806.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $7,711,717,915.76. This represents a 0.30% 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 have sold a total of 318,387 shares of company stock valued at $43,403,063 over the last ninety days. 17.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial set a $183.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.91.

Trending Headlines about Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q2 results: Fortinet reported earnings of $0.90 per share versus the $0.75 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 25.6% year over year to $2.05 billion, above the $1.89 billion forecast. Product revenue reportedly increased 52%, and billings climbed 33% to $2.37 billion. Fortinet lifts annual revenue forecast on strong cybersecurity demand
• Positive Sentiment: Guidance raised: Management lifted its full-year 2026 revenue outlook, signaling confidence that enterprise spending on security will remain strong amid rising data-security incidents. Analysts also highlighted pricing strength and solid execution. Fortinet raises revenue outlook after strong Q2 and new AI product push
• Positive Sentiment: AI and platform momentum: Demand for Fortinet’s AI-security offerings, SASE Firewall, security platforms and operational-technology products is providing additional growth catalysts as companies expand AI infrastructure. FTNT Q2 earnings call highlights SASE Firewall growth
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst target increases: Rosenblatt raised its target to $195 and BTIG raised its target to $203, both with Buy ratings. Citigroup also increased its target to $185, reinforcing the favorable near-term reaction to the earnings report. Analysts boost forecasts following upbeat Q2 earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its target to $160 but retained a Neutral rating, while William Blair maintained a Hold rating, citing questions about how durable Fortinet’s pricing and growth advantages will be.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation remains a risk after the stock’s substantial multiyear gain. At roughly 57 times earnings, shares may already reflect considerable optimism, leaving less room for disappointment. Fortinet stock seems stretched following its five-year run

Fortinet Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $161.95 on Friday. Fortinet, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $170.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.28. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.09. The company has a market cap of $118.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.02, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 1.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current 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.