Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT Stock Position Reduced by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 783,495 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 17,777 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Fortinet worth $65,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in Fortinet by 6.8% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 1,305,352 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $137,800,000 after purchasing an additional 82,937 shares during the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,034,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 402,278 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $33,824,000 after purchasing an additional 17,892 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 39.7% during the 2nd quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 182,160 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $19,258,000 after buying an additional 51,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 465.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 756,651 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $64,255,000 after buying an additional 622,809 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt flagged potential Q4 upside from tax incentives and improved sales execution, suggesting earnings could beat expectations and provide support. Rosenblatt Q4 Upside
• Positive Sentiment: Market coverage noting Fortinet’s upgrade and resilient ARR growth as signs that the cybersecurity group may be finding support ahead of earnings — a constructive signal for investors focused on recurring revenue and AI-related deals. MarketBeat: CrowdStrike & Fortinet Context
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks previews Q4 and highlights expected revenue guidance of $1.825–$1.885B and steady EPS, noting AI data-center deals could shape results — useful context but not a direct catalyst until results/guidance are confirmed. Zacks Q4 Preview
• Neutral Sentiment: Another Zacks piece compiles Wall Street estimates for key metrics ahead of the quarter — important for positioning but not an immediate price driver. Zacks Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: The published short-interest data is effectively zero/ambiguous and does not appear to be a meaningful near-term pressure point. (No actionable short squeeze signal.)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares (~$27.9M at ~$81.42) and CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares (~$14.3M), reducing their holdings modestly — large insider sales often weigh on sentiment even when insiders retain sizeable positions. Michael Xie SEC Filing Ken Xie SEC Filing
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and reassessments of 2026 growth (including a Scotiabank downgrade) have pressured shares as investors mark down forward growth expectations; coverage notes led to a near-term slip in the stock. Scotiabank Downgrade Analyst Reassessment
• Negative Sentiment: Market write-ups (e.g., Seeking Alpha) note the stock slipped after the Scotiabank downgrade, reflecting immediate market reaction to the weaker outlook. Seeking Alpha: Slip After Downgrade

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $14,308,506.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,396,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,184,693,666.70. The trade was a 0.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $27,935,690.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 10,210,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,321,160.44. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $79.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.97 billion, a PE ratio of 32.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.06. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $114.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $80.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $85.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.48.

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.