Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given New $145.00 Price Target at Susquehanna

Key Points

• Susquehanna lowered Fortinet’s price target from $160 to $145 while maintaining a neutral rating, implying roughly 4.24% upside from the prior close. Analysts overall assign the stock a consensus “Hold” rating with an average target of $149.19.
• Fortinet reported strong third-quarter results, with revenue rising 20.5% year over year to $2.08 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.91, beating estimates. Management also raised its earnings outlook and expanded its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion.
• Despite the strong headline results, investors remain concerned about slower service-revenue growth, reduced service guidance and potentially moderating margins, contributing to a significant share-price decline and broader cybersecurity-sector weakness.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Susquehanna from $160.00 to $145.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the software maker's stock. Susquehanna's price target would indicate a potential upside of 4.24% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $145.00 target price (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "positive" rating and set a $136.00 price target (up from $133.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Fortinet from $118.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $149.19.

Fortinet Trading Down 20.1%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $139.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $102.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $127.99. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $73.55 and a fifty-two week high of $197.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 182.65%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 3.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total transaction of $8,911,425.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,045,529.28. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction 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 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 have sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last 90 days. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at $9,561,650,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Fortinet by 45.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $940,284,000 after buying an additional 3,598,487 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker's stock worth $788,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500,194 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,432,842,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $979,062,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding the roughly $2.06 billion revenue and $0.86 EPS consensus estimates. Product revenue rose 37% to $765 million, billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion, and operating margins reached record levels. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its outlook. Fourth-quarter adjusted EPS is projected at $0.93-$0.95, above the $0.86 consensus, while full-year 2026 EPS guidance of $3.54-$3.58 exceeds the $3.38 estimate. Full-year revenue guidance of $8.1-$8.2 billion is approximately in line with expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Strong cash generation remains a potential support: Fortinet produced $865 million of free cash flow in the quarter and expanded its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, leaving approximately $2 billion available. Fortinet adds $1.2 billion to its buyback program
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have reduced price targets but remain divided. TD Cowen maintained a “buy” rating with a $190 target, while Barclays, Truist, Citigroup, Stifel, Scotiabank and others lowered targets or retained neutral-to-hold ratings.
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13% to $1.31 billion, far below product growth. Management also lowered its service-revenue outlook, raising concerns that customers are buying security hardware for AI infrastructure but delaying related recurring-service activations. Software stocks slide after Fortinet results
• Negative Sentiment: Fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies slower growth than in the latest quarter, while pricing benefits and lower-cost inventory are expected to normalize. Investors worry about margin pressure and weaker growth at Fortinet’s premium earnings multiple.
• Negative Sentiment: The selloff has intensified broader cybersecurity-sector weakness, with commentary from Jim Cramer favoring Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike over Fortinet. Jim Cramer Says Sell Fortinet

Fortinet Company Profile

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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