Investors Purchase High Volume of Fortinet Put Options (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 53,374 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 324% compared to the average daily volume of 12,598 put options.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ FTNT traded down $0.57 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $81.15. The stock had a trading volume of 5,254,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,819,100. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.93. Fortinet has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $109.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.17.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 124.21% and a net margin of 27.26%.Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $27,935,690.52. Following the sale, the vice president owned 10,210,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $831,321,160.44. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $14,308,506.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,152,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,354,874,000 after buying an additional 2,894,355 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Fortinet by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,730,954 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $613,915,000 after buying an additional 2,166,396 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Fortinet by 30.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,575,662 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $636,962,000 after buying an additional 1,790,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 76.2% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,109,016 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $326,297,000 after buying an additional 1,777,115 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on FTNT. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Fortinet from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Evercore set a $80.00 price target on Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.84.

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.