Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price

Key Points

• Barclays raised its price target on Fortinet from $155 to $170 while keeping an "equal weight" rating, implying about 7.9% upside from the stock’s current price.
• Fortinet’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $0.82 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $1.85 billion versus $1.73 billion projected, up 20.1% year over year.
• Insider selling and mixed analyst sentiment remain notable: CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie recently sold shares, while the broader analyst consensus is still a "Hold" with an average target price of $109.23.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Barclays from $155.00 to $170.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the software maker's stock. Barclays's price objective points to a potential upside of 7.93% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on FTNT. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $85.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Compass Point set a $100.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $109.23.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of FTNT stock opened at $157.51 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $137.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.08. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $165.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $115.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.81, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.09.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. The business's revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 160,632 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.58, for a total transaction of $23,384,806.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $7,711,717,915.76. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.44, for a total value of $572,141.08. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,923,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,453,213,448.40. This trade represents a 0.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 318,387 shares of company stock worth $43,403,063. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Fortinet by 408.3% in the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 305 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Ares Financial Consulting LLC acquired a new position in Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Fortinet Company Profile

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.

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.