Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Sold by Shelton Wealth Management LLC

Shelton Wealth Management LLC decreased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,984 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 3,096 shares during the quarter. Shelton Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter worth $313,000. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% in the third quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,291 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,448,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $10,282,000. NFSG Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 17,179 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,071,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Trading Down 7.0%

Shares of FTNT traded down $12.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $169.13. 5,734,585 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,757,552. The firm has a market cap of $124.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.55, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.03. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $73.55 and a 12-month high of $197.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $169.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.85.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 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 net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.64 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.10 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet expanded its partnership with Atos to provide a unified cybersecurity framework for hybrid- and multi-cloud environments. The agreement could strengthen Fortinet’s enterprise reach and support demand for its security products and services. Fortinet Expands Global Cybersecurity Framework For Hybrid And Multi Cloud Security
• Positive Sentiment: Growth-oriented analysis remains supportive, citing Fortinet’s above-average financial growth and its potential to outperform the broader market. Its latest reported quarter also showed strong earnings and revenue growth, providing a fundamental counterpoint to the current selling pressure. 3 Reasons Why Growth Investors Shouldn’t Overlook Fortinet
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its Fortinet price target from $135 to $160 but retained an “underweight” rating. The higher target is constructive, although it still implies limited upside relative to the stock’s recent trading level. Wells Fargo Lifts Target for Fortinet Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley downgraded FTNT to “underweight” from “equal weight,” warning that a smaller-than-expected firewall refresh opportunity could reduce future revenue estimates. This concern overshadowed the company’s continued customer expansion and has become the clearest company-specific catalyst behind the decline. Fortinet Falls as Analyst Downgrade Revives Firewall Refresh Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Fortinet’s premium valuation makes the stock vulnerable when growth expectations weaken. Broader weakness in technology and AI-related stocks, along with reports of net insider selling, added to investor caution ahead of the company’s October 28 earnings report.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FTNT shares. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $175.00 target price on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total transaction of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. The trade was 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 in the last three months. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Company Profile

Fortinet, Inc develops and provides cybersecurity products and services for businesses, governments, and service providers. The company’s portfolio is designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments, and operational technology from cyber threats.

Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiSASE secure access service edge solutions. Fortinet also provides centralized management and analytics through products such as FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, along with security operations, threat intelligence, and other subscription-based services through its FortiGuard portfolio.

Founded in 2000, Fortinet serves customers globally through direct sales, channel partners, and managed security service providers.