Country Trust Bank Grows Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Country Trust Bank raised its position in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 280,970 shares of the software maker’s stock after buying an additional 29,870 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $23,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new position 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. bought a new position in Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Fortinet by 41.4% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 355 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Quaker Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 200.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 363 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price target (up from $83.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday. Daiwa America cut shares of Fortinet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered shares of Fortinet from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.30.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.53, for a total value of $306,835.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,492,018 shares in the company, valued at approximately $907,874,317.54. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total transaction of $13,710,537.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,445,911,452.29. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised multiple quarterly and full‑year EPS forecasts for FY2025–FY2026 (raising FY2026 to $2.55), signaling upward revisions to Fortinet’s near‑term profitability expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: A technical/bullish take argues Fortinet can rebound off a long‑term trendline as the broader tech rally (helped by strong TSMC earnings) lifts security names, providing momentum that could help stop the recent multi‑week slide. Long-Term Bullish Trendline Could Help Fortinet Stock Break Out
• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet will present at the World Economic Forum in Davos and promote its Cybercrime Bounty and other global initiatives—an investor‑friendly visibility boost that underscores partnerships with governments and large institutions and could help commercial momentum. Fortinet to Present on Cybercrime Disruption Strategies at WEF 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Several brokers (RBC, Piper Sandler, UBS, Citi) have recently issued hold/reiterate notes or modest target tweaks—these keep analyst coverage active but don’t materially change consensus conviction. Here’s What Analysts Think About Fortinet (FTNT)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑term trading volatility has been notable (recent sessions with above‑average volume and a mid‑January pullback); some coverage pieces note recent intraday declines that may reflect broader sector moves rather than company‑specific news. Fortinet (FTNT) Declines More Than Market
• Negative Sentiment: A Barron’s report that China ordered domestic firms to avoid certain U.S. cybersecurity software sparked a selloff in U.S. security names, renewing geopolitical/configuration risk for Fortinet’s China exposure and cloud/customer access in that market. Palo Alto, Fortinet Stocks Are Diving
• Negative Sentiment: J.P. Morgan reiterated a Sell rating, citing elevated memory costs and margin pressure that could cap upside and justify a lower target—this keeps downside risk top‑of‑mind for value/margin‑sensitive investors. Fortinet Downgraded: Elevated Memory Costs and Margin Risk Drive Sustained Sell Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling and mixed institutional positioning flagged in recent data (notable insider share sales and shifts in hedge fund holdings) add a cautionary signal for sentiment and potential supply pressure. QuiverQuant FTNT Summary (includes insider/inst. activity)

Fortinet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $76.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.41, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.63. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $114.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. Fortinet had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 28.58%.The company had revenue of $1.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.660-2.700 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.730-0.750 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current 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.