Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Keeps Hold Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham reiterated its “hold” rating on Fortinet, while analyst sentiment remains mixed; the stock has an overall consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.47.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with revenue rising 20.5% year over year to $2.08 billion and EPS of $0.91 exceeding the $0.86 consensus estimate.
• Despite the earnings beat and higher guidance, investors remained concerned about slowing growth and lofty expectations, prompting some analysts to cut price targets and contributing to a post-earnings selloff.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold" rating reiterated by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on FTNT. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $160.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Fortinet from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $156.47.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT opened at $174.08 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $171.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.69. The stock has a market cap of $127.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.30, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Fortinet has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $197.13.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 3.10 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of Fortinet 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,045,529.28. The trade was a 35.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% 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 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 over the last 90 days. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter worth $98,915,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 6.8% in the third quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 849,655 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $151,884,000 after acquiring an additional 53,878 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $8,192,000. Intrua Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $386,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments increased its position in Fortinet by 150.2% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 33,884 shares of the software maker's stock worth $6,057,000 after acquiring an additional 20,342 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20% year over year, while non-GAAP EPS of $0.91 exceeded the $0.86 consensus estimate. Product revenue rose 37% to $765 million, billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion, and operating margins remained strong. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised 2026 revenue guidance and projected 2026 billings of $9.568 billion to $9.718 billion, citing demand for AI-infrastructure security. The company also increased its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, leaving $2 billion available for buybacks. Fortinet Outlines 2026 Billings and Raises Guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: The fourth-quarter adjusted EPS outlook of $0.93 to $0.95 was provided alongside the broader guidance increase, but investors judged the forecast against particularly high expectations after FTNT’s strong run and premium valuation.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and investors viewed billings growth and the forward outlook as insufficient relative to lofty expectations. Analysts subsequently cut price targets, contributing to the post-earnings selloff despite the quarterly beat. Fortinet Stock Sinks Despite Q3 Beat
• Negative Sentiment: Concerns that growth is slowing in one of Fortinet’s business segments, combined with broader fears that artificial intelligence could disrupt software companies, pressured cybersecurity and software stocks broadly. Software Stocks Slide as Fortinet and ServiceNow Miss Expectations

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.