Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 204,214 Shares of Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 46.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 237,967 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 204,214 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $19,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $585,000. HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Fortinet by 29.1% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,136,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Fortinet by 27.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,989 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $15,328,000 after purchasing an additional 31,202 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $152.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $111.63 billion, a PE ratio of 58.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.14 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.45. Fortinet, Inc. has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $170.35.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The business’s revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total value of $18,749,786.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,163,508.84. This trade represents a 60.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $572,141.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,923,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,213,448.40. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 318,387 shares of company stock valued at $43,403,063 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on FTNT. Zacks Research raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Fortinet from an “underweight” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $133.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $165.00 target price (up from $115.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho set a $125.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $130.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $123.61.

Fortinet Company Profile

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.