Fortinet Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:FTNT)

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 22,368 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 66% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,493 put options.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $81.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $60.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.17. Fortinet has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $109.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.77.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 124.21% and a net margin of 27.26%.The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $27,935,690.52. Following the sale, the vice president owned 10,210,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $831,321,160.44. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Wexford Capital LP bought a new stake in Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Mizuho decreased their target price on Fortinet from $74.00 to $70.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Fortinet from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Scotiabank cut Fortinet from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $87.68.

About Fortinet

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.