Providence First Trust Co Acquires New Shares in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Providence First Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,357 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $958,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FTNT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter valued at about $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings 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 valued at $788,682,000 after buying an additional 4,500,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter valued at about $656,852,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $186.00 price target (down from $203.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Fortinet from $225.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Yorkville Ives assumed coverage on Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $225.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.44.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.31, for a total transaction of $20,881,366.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,849,857,423.32. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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. Also, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 221,304 shares of company stock valued at $30,675,309. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Down 3.0%

Shares of FTNT traded down $3.67 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $118.84. 8,025,051 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,436,355. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52 week low of $73.55 and a 52 week high of $197.13. The company has a market cap of $87.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $129.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank raised its FY2026 and FY2027 earnings-per-share estimates to $3.21 and $3.50, respectively, while keeping its “Sector Perform” rating and $140 price target. The higher forecasts offer a modest positive signal, though the FY2026 estimate matches consensus. Scotiabank estimate update
• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet introduced FortiGuard Inline AI Security, which adds inspection and controls for enterprise generative-AI use, and FortiLink SASE, a cloud-delivered security service for distributed sites. The launches broaden its product portfolio and target evolving security needs. Fortinet unveiled two new security services
• Positive Sentiment: FortiAIGate is now available on Equinix’s Distributed AI Hub, giving customers a validated architecture to secure and govern AI across distributed environments. The partnership could support demand for Fortinet’s AI-security products. Fortinet and Equinix secure distributed AI at scale
• Negative Sentiment: A recent analysis highlighted a cut to the services outlook and questioned whether Fortinet’s valuation is supported by its future cash generation. The concern may keep investors focused on the pace of service-business growth. Fortinet stock valuation and service outlook analysis
• Negative Sentiment: ETFs were net sellers of Fortinet shares on Nov. 3, with $15.7 million in net sales, a possible near-term source of selling pressure. ETF trading activity
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Ken Xie reportedly sold 161,483 shares. Such sales can weigh on sentiment, although the report does not establish the reason for the transaction. Insider share sale report

Fortinet Profile

Fortinet, Inc is a cybersecurity and networking company that provides products and services to help organizations protect their networks, devices, applications, and cloud environments. Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, the FortiOS operating system, and security, endpoint, cloud, and secure access service edge (SASE) solutions.

The company’s Security Fabric platform is designed to integrate security and networking products and support centralized visibility and management.