Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) had its price target cut by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $175.00 to $140.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the software maker’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 19.58% from the stock’s previous close.
Several other research analysts have also weighed in on FTNT. Truist Financial set a $175.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Fortinet from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $165.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $153.72.
View Our Latest Analysis on Fortinet
Fortinet Stock Performance
NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $174.08 on Thursday. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $73.55 and a twelve month high of $197.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $171.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $127.69. The stock has a market cap of $127.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.30, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.03.
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. Fortinet’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Fortinet will post 3.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Transactions at Fortinet
In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was 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 approximately $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% 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. Insiders sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 in the last quarter. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Fortinet by 87.4% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $788,682,000 after buying an additional 4,500,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter valued at approximately $656,852,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.
Fortinet News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20% year over year, while non-GAAP EPS of $0.91 exceeded the $0.86 consensus estimate. Product revenue rose 37% to $765 million, billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion, and operating margins remained strong. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
- Positive Sentiment: Management raised 2026 revenue guidance and projected 2026 billings of $9.568 billion to $9.718 billion, citing demand for AI-infrastructure security. The company also increased its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, leaving $2 billion available for buybacks. Fortinet Outlines 2026 Billings and Raises Guidance
- Neutral Sentiment: The fourth-quarter adjusted EPS outlook of $0.93 to $0.95 was provided alongside the broader guidance increase, but investors judged the forecast against particularly high expectations after FTNT’s strong run and premium valuation.
- Negative Sentiment: Analysts and investors viewed billings growth and the forward outlook as insufficient relative to lofty expectations. Analysts subsequently cut price targets, contributing to the post-earnings selloff despite the quarterly beat. Fortinet Stock Sinks Despite Q3 Beat
- Negative Sentiment: Concerns that growth is slowing in one of Fortinet’s business segments, combined with broader fears that artificial intelligence could disrupt software companies, pressured cybersecurity and software stocks broadly. Software Stocks Slide as Fortinet and ServiceNow Miss Expectations
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.
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