Fortinet, Inc. (FTNT) – What Are Analysts Saying About This Stock?

Shares of Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the forty-one brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-four have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $147.94.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Fortinet from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $118.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Capital One Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $118.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value 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 $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last three months. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter worth approximately $492,000. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. raised its stake in Fortinet by 83.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. now owns 22,326 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,991,000 after acquiring an additional 10,180 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 75,491 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $6,169,000 after purchasing an additional 13,294 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 49,058 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $7,537,000 after purchasing an additional 17,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Fortinet by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 32,402 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $5,792,000 after purchasing an additional 8,488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $136.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $197.13. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.28. The stock has a market cap of $99.84 billion, a PE ratio of 44.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

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.

Fortinet Company Profile

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.