--- title: "BlackRock Inc. Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/296189547.md" description: "BlackRock Inc. initiated a new position in Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) during Q2, purchasing approximately 62.2 million shares valued at $9.56 billion, bringing its total ownership to 8.48%. Concurrently, other institutional investors like Thrivent Financial and Westerkirk Capital increased their stakes in the cybersecurity firm. Meanwhile, Fortinet insiders, including COO John Whittle and VP Michael Xie, sold significant portions of their holdings. The company recently reported strong quarterly earnings, beating estimates with $0.90 EPS and $2.05 billion revenue." datetime: "2026-08-18T07:20:57.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/296189547.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296189547.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/296189547.md) --- # BlackRock Inc. Takes Position in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 62,242,221 shares of the software maker's stock, valued at approximately $9,561,650,000. BlackRock Inc. owned about 8.48% of Fortinet as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). - Cybersecurity Stocks Are Holding Up as the AI Trade Starts to Crack Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Expressive Wealth LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth about $646,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,422,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,638,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 156.6% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 390,492 shares of the software maker's stock worth $31,009,000 after purchasing an additional 238,299 shares during the period. Finally, Westerkirk Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. now owns 52,500 shares of the software maker's stock worth $4,169,000 after purchasing an additional 15,500 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. ## Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet In related news, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,163,508.84. This trade represents a 60.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $572,141.08. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,923,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,453,213,448.40. The trade was a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 475,157 shares of company stock valued at $69,480,964. 17.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. ## Fortinet Price Performance - Time to Sell? 3 Winners With Fading Technical Momentum Shares of FTNT opened at $155.85 on Tuesday. Fortinet, Inc. has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $172.09. The stock's fifty day moving average is $155.31 and its 200-day moving average is $115.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.07. Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current year. ## Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades - As AI Data Breaches Become More Common, This Cybersecurity ETF Is Surging FTNT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Compass Point set a $100.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating and set a $215.00 price target (up from $160.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Truist Financial set a $183.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $150.91. **Get Our Latest Analysis on FTNT** ## About Fortinet (Free Report) 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. ## See Also - Five stocks we like better than Fortinet - Commodities Are Booming, But These 3 ETFs Tell Different Stories - 3 Active ETFs Making Big Moves in August - This ETF Is Outperforming by Avoiding the S&P 500’s Biggest Problem - Birkenstock Beats the Skeptics—But Not on EPS _This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com._ Continue following MarketBeat Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed. Add As Preferred Source ## Should You Invest $1,000 in Fortinet Right Now? Before you consider Fortinet, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Fortinet wasn't on the list. While Fortinet currently has a Hold rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. 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