Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Wall Street sentiment on Fortinet is mixed, but the overall consensus from 35 analysts is a “Hold.” The average 12-month price target is about $102.69.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, beating expectations with EPS of $0.82 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $1.85 billion versus $1.73 billion forecast. Revenue rose 20.1% year over year, and the company issued guidance above current analyst expectations.
• The stock has been active on the trading and ownership front, with shares up 1.4% in the article and several major institutions increasing stakes. At the same time, insiders sold shares recently, including a large sale by COO John Whittle.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the thirty-five analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-four have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $102.6897.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FTNT shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Fortinet from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Fortinet from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 price target (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, May 7th.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.4%

FTNT opened at $129.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.15. Fortinet has a one year low of $70.12 and a one year high of $134.91. The company has a market cap of $95.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.08, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $95.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.26.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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, equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, COO John Whittle sold 146,015 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.41, for a total transaction of $18,749,786.15. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,163,508.84. The trade was a 60.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total value of $220,269.42. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months, insiders sold 153,848 shares of company stock valued at $19,446,115. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $6,354,874,000 after buying an additional 2,894,355 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Fortinet by 1.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 29,660,558 shares of the software maker's stock worth $2,493,860,000 after purchasing an additional 477,397 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,152,917,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Fortinet by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 14,504,597 shares of the software maker's stock worth $1,151,810,000 after purchasing an additional 893,190 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake 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 worth $940,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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