Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Trims Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 55,613 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 4,063 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Fortinet were worth $8,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,561,650,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Fortinet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,660,558 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,493,860,000 after acquiring an additional 477,397 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,152,917,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Fortinet by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,504,597 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,151,810,000 after acquiring an additional 893,190 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $940,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,598,487 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Barclays set a $190.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Evercore set a $165.00 price target on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.91.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Fortinet Stock Down 4.5%

Fortinet stock opened at $154.54 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $113.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $158.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.26. Fortinet, Inc. has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $173.89.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%.The business’s revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortinet 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.