BNP Paribas Reduces Stock Holdings in Fortinet, Inc. $FTNT

BNP Paribas lowered its holdings in Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) by 53.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,065 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 19,259 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Fortinet were worth $1,444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $585,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter worth about $603,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in Fortinet by 7.1% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 155,810 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $16,472,000 after acquiring an additional 10,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Fortinet by 19.2% during the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,312 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after acquiring an additional 2,141 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on FTNT. Robert W. Baird set a $90.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $64.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Fortinet from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.62.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet unveiled FortiOS 8.0 with AI‑aware controls, quantum‑safe cryptography and sovereign SASE options, a product push that supports upsell into SecOps, SASE and AI security—positive for revenue mix and differentiation. Fortinet FortiOS 8.0 Targets AI Security And Quantum Ready Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Channel momentum highlighted as Liquid Networx won two Fortinet partner awards (Engage Preferred Services Partner and Unified SASE Partner of the Year), underscoring partner execution and potential services growth. Liquid Networx Wins Two Partner of the Year Awards at Fortinet Accelerate 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary pieces provide context but no consensus upgrade — coverage includes broad insights on Fortinet alongside peers, offering mixed takeaways for investors. Analysts Offer Insights on Technology Companies: Fortinet (FTNT) and Atlassian (TEAM)
• Neutral Sentiment: Intraday swings were notable — the shares traded up in some sessions before closing lower, reflecting short‑term profit taking and rotation within the software/security group. Fortinet (FTNT) Advances While Market Declines: Some Information for Investors
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays moved coverage to a Hold, and Wells Fargo maintained a Sell—mixed-to‑negative analyst positioning is pressuring sentiment and can limit near‑term upside. Fortinet (FTNT) Gets a Hold from Barclays Wells Fargo Keeps Their Sell Rating on Fortinet (FTNT)
• Negative Sentiment: News roundups note that Fortinet fell more than the broader market in recent sessions—coverage points to analyst pressure and sector rotation as reasons for the pullback. Here’s Why Fortinet (FTNT) Fell More Than Broader Market

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $14,308,506.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,396,385 shares in the company, valued at $4,184,693,666.70. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $27,935,690.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,210,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 18.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Fortinet Stock Performance

NASDAQ FTNT opened at $83.44 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.71. The company has a market cap of $61.74 billion, a PE ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.05. Fortinet, Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.12 and a 1-year high of $109.33.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 124.21% and a net margin of 27.26%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.