Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Acquires New Shares in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,156 shares of the software maker’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,354,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894,355 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Fortinet by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,564,558 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $467,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,109 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Fortinet by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,575,662 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $636,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,033 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Fortinet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,816,519 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $909,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Fortinet by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 5,160,348 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $430,082,000 after acquiring an additional 969,899 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FTNT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Compass Point set a $100.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Barclays set a $115.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $107.00 target price (up from $90.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.69.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 146,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total transaction of $18,749,786.15. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,163,508.84. The trade was a 60.65% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 153,848 shares of company stock worth $19,446,115. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $137.97 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.96 and its 200-day moving average is $86.62. Fortinet, Inc. has a 52-week low of $70.12 and a 52-week high of $138.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15. The company has a market cap of $101.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.27, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.92.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The company had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.77 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.