Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 4,100 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,100 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $733,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. National Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $672,000. WealthCare Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $2,503,000. CPR Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 34.3% in the third quarter. CPR Investments Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $313,000 after buying an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $253,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,823 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,437,000 after acquiring an additional 3,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Capital One Financial upped their price target on Fortinet from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Fortinet from $163.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $145.00 target price (down from $185.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Fortinet from $195.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $149.61.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20% year over year, while adjusted EPS of $0.91 exceeded expectations. Billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion, and management raised its overall 2026 revenue outlook. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Product revenue grew 37% to $765 million, operating margins reached record levels, and the board authorized an additional $1.2 billion for share repurchases. Strong free cash flow and rising deferred revenue could support future services growth. Fortinet Raises Guidance Again
• Neutral Sentiment: Management attributed the services slowdown partly to customers deploying security hardware for AI and data-center projects before activating related recurring services. Investors will watch whether those deployments convert into service revenue in coming quarters.
• Negative Sentiment: Services revenue rose only 13% to $1.31 billion, significantly below product growth, and Fortinet lowered its services-revenue forecast. Analysts cited slowing product momentum and services headwinds, with multiple firms cutting price targets or downgrading the stock. Fortinet Stock Sinks
• Negative Sentiment: Fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies growth of roughly 15%, below the third quarter’s pace. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs, and a valuation near 49 times earnings amplified the market’s reaction. The selloff also pressured other cybersecurity and software stocks amid broader concerns about AI disruption. Software Stocks Slide After Fortinet Results

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,045,529.28. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last three months. 17.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $139.10 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $73.55 and a 1-year high of $197.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 182.65%. The company had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict 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.