Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Shares Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 41.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,123 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 6,809 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owned 10,210,282 shares in the company, valued at $831,321,160.44. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $14,308,506.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,396,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 17.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Evercore set a $80.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $64.00 price objective on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.62.

Fortinet Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $83.48 on Thursday. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $109.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.60. The company has a market capitalization of $61.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.05.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.