Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Cut to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Bank of America cut shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $140.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Fortinet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up from $116.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price objective on Fortinet from $115.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $145.00 price objective (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.94.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $136.08 on Thursday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $197.13. The firm has a market cap of $99.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.28.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,045,529.28. The trade was a 35.71% decrease in their position. 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. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 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. Insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 in the last ninety days. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Puff Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 3.4% in the third quarter. Puff Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 19,581 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,500,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kintegral Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 12,648 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,261,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

More Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of approximately $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding consensus estimates. Billings increased 29%, while operating margins reached a record. Fortinet Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion in revenue and $3.54-$3.58 in EPS. Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $0.93-$0.95 also exceeds the consensus estimate of $0.86. Fortinet Raises Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $1.2 billion in share repurchases, and quarterly free cash flow was approximately $865 million. Analysts at TD Cowen, Rosenblatt and Truist retained bullish ratings despite lowering their price targets. Fortinet Adds to Buyback Program
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet is technically oversold after a sharp multi-week decline, while rising earnings estimates could support a rebound. However, the technical signal does not resolve concerns about the company’s growth mix. Fortinet May See a Trend Reversal
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13%, versus 37% growth in product revenue. Investors are concerned that hardware sales tied to AI infrastructure are not converting into recurring services quickly enough, reducing near-term revenue visibility. The Real Reason Fortinet Dropped
• Negative Sentiment: Management lowered its services outlook, while fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies growth deceleration from the third quarter. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs and longer component lead times added to investor concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target to $115 and assigned an underweight rating; Susquehanna lowered its target to $145 and rated the shares neutral. Other firms, including Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and Scotiabank, also reduced targets or ratings. Analysts Cut Fortinet Forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: The broader technology and cybersecurity sell-off is amplifying the reaction, despite a major cryptocurrency hack highlighting demand for digital security. Investors are also questioning whether Fortinet’s premium valuation remains justified as growth slows.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments and operational technology systems. The company’s portfolio includes next-generation firewalls, secure networking products, endpoint security, web application security, email security, identity and access solutions, and security information and event management tools.

Its product offerings include FortiGate network security appliances and cloud-based firewalls, along with FortiSwitch, FortiAP and FortiExtender solutions for secure connectivity.