Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded at Daiwa Securities Group

Daiwa Securities Group upgraded shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Free Report) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Daiwa Securities Group currently has $150.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on FTNT. Barclays decreased their price objective on Fortinet from $210.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Evercore set a $165.00 target price on Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. HSBC upped their price target on Fortinet from $102.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Arete Research cut Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $117.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $150.44.

View Our Latest Stock Report on FTNT

Fortinet Trading Down 3.0%

NASDAQ FTNT traded down $3.67 on Wednesday, hitting $118.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,025,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,436,355. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Fortinet has a 1-year low of $73.55 and a 1-year high of $197.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $168.06 and its 200 day moving average is $129.50. The firm has a market cap of $87.31 billion, a PE ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Fortinet will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In related news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.49, for a total transaction of $404,138.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,284,328,436.40. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.31, for a total transaction of $20,881,366.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,849,857,423.32. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 sold a total of 221,304 shares of company stock worth $30,675,309 over the last three months. 17.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Puff Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Puff Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 19,581 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Kintegral Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Fortinet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 12,648 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank raised its FY2026 and FY2027 earnings-per-share estimates to $3.21 and $3.50, respectively, while keeping its “Sector Perform” rating and $140 price target. The higher forecasts offer a modest positive signal, though the FY2026 estimate matches consensus. Scotiabank estimate update
  • Positive Sentiment: Fortinet introduced FortiGuard Inline AI Security, which adds inspection and controls for enterprise generative-AI use, and FortiLink SASE, a cloud-delivered security service for distributed sites. The launches broaden its product portfolio and target evolving security needs. Fortinet unveiled two new security services
  • Positive Sentiment: FortiAIGate is now available on Equinix’s Distributed AI Hub, giving customers a validated architecture to secure and govern AI across distributed environments. The partnership could support demand for Fortinet’s AI-security products. Fortinet and Equinix secure distributed AI at scale
  • Negative Sentiment: A recent analysis highlighted a cut to the services outlook and questioned whether Fortinet’s valuation is supported by its future cash generation. The concern may keep investors focused on the pace of service-business growth. Fortinet stock valuation and service outlook analysis
  • Negative Sentiment: ETFs were net sellers of Fortinet shares on Nov. 3, with $15.7 million in net sales, a possible near-term source of selling pressure. ETF trading activity
  • Negative Sentiment: Insider Ken Xie reportedly sold 161,483 shares. Such sales can weigh on sentiment, although the report does not establish the reason for the transaction. Insider share sale report

Fortinet Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Fortinet, Inc is a cybersecurity and networking company that provides products and services to help organizations protect their networks, devices, applications, and cloud environments. Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, the FortiOS operating system, and security, endpoint, cloud, and secure access service edge (SASE) solutions.

The company’s Security Fabric platform is designed to integrate security and networking products and support centralized visibility and management.

See Also

Analyst Recommendations for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT)

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