Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Freedom Capital

Freedom Capital lowered shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on FTNT. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Fortinet from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $90.00 target price on Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group cut Fortinet from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $86.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.42.

Fortinet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $80.69 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $114.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.01 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $80.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.70.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.07. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.26% and a return on equity of 124.21%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $27,935,690.52. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 10,210,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,321,160.44. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total value of $14,308,506.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 51,396,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Fortinet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,354,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894,355 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Fortinet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,660,558 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,493,860,000 after acquiring an additional 477,397 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Fortinet by 5.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,916,974 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,783,091,000 after purchasing an additional 828,569 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth $1,640,900,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,504,597 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,151,810,000 after purchasing an additional 893,190 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

About Fortinet

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.