Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Posted by Stanley Muller on Jul 16th, 2026

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on FTNT. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Fortinet from $150.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.26.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Fortinet

Fortinet Trading Down 1.4%

Fortinet stock opened at $164.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $120.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.52, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $170.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $142.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total value of $18,749,786.15. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 94,724 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,163,508.84. The trade was a 60.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 160,632 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.58, for a total transaction of $23,384,806.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,711,717,915.76. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 318,387 shares of company stock worth $43,403,063. Insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,660,558 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $2,493,860,000 after buying an additional 477,397 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,152,917,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Fortinet by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,504,597 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,151,810,000 after purchasing an additional 893,190 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Fortinet by 45.5% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $940,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,816,519 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $909,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,568,337 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Fortinet to Strong Buy, citing improving earnings expectations and growing optimism around the company’s outlook. Article Title
Positive Sentiment: Fortinet announced new FortiEndpoint capabilities aimed at AI security, data protection, and easier operations, reinforcing its positioning in the fast-growing AI cybersecurity market. Article Title
Positive Sentiment: The company also named TD SYNNEX as a global distribution partner, which could widen Fortinet’s reach and support future sales growth. Article Title
Positive Sentiment: Broader cybersecurity-sector strength is also helping FTNT, with articles noting that AI infrastructure spending and rising cyber threats are boosting demand for security vendors like Fortinet. Article Title
Neutral Sentiment: Multiple commentary pieces compared Fortinet with Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft, highlighting Fortinet’s AI-security exposure but also raising valuation questions about how much growth is already priced in. Article Title
Neutral Sentiment: IBM’s spending warning and the broader selloff in data-center-related names helped lift cybersecurity stocks, including Fortinet, as investors rotated toward security plays. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: One marketwatch item noted Fortinet outperformed some competitors despite a weak session, suggesting the stock is still facing some pressure even amid the positive catalysts. Article Title
Negative Sentiment: Some valuation-focused commentary says FTNT still trades at a premium despite its AI-security growth story, which may limit upside if expectations cool. Article Title

Fortinet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.