Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FTNT. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $215.00 price target (up from $160.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.26.

Fortinet Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $164.51 on Tuesday. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $170.35. The stock has a market cap of $120.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.52, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.83.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 160.08% and a net margin of 27.49%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 160,632 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.58, for a total value of $23,384,806.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $7,711,717,915.76. The trade was a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $572,141.08. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,923,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,453,213,448.40. This represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 318,387 shares of company stock valued at $43,403,063 in the last ninety days. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Fortinet by 408.3% in the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 305 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other 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: 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

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.