Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from Stifel Nicolaus

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $175.00 to $140.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the software maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Zacks Research upgraded Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $175.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $163.00 target price (up from $110.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $186.00 price target (down from $203.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.94.

Fortinet Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $136.08 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $171.34 and a 200-day moving average of $128.28. 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 firm has a market cap of $99.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 Fortinet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at $656,852,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Fortinet News Roundup

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.

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.