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

Key Points

• Fortinet has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold” from 36 analysts, with the average 1-year price target at about $113.97.
• The company recently reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, with earnings of $0.82 per share on $1.85 billion in revenue, both above expectations.
• Fortinet shares were up slightly and traded near their 52-week high; meanwhile, insiders have been selling stock, and institutional investors continue to hold a large majority of the shares.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the thirty-six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-three have issued a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $113.9677.

Several analysts recently weighed in on FTNT shares. Arete Research set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Fortinet from $150.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ FTNT opened at $161.61 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $144.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.80. The firm has a market cap of $118.40 billion, a PE ratio of 62.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 1.09. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $170.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The firm had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.58 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,907 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $572,141.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,923,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,453,213,448.40. This trade represents a 0.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 94,724 shares in the company, valued at $12,163,508.84. This trade represents a 60.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 318,387 shares of company stock worth $43,403,063 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth $1,152,917,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Fortinet by 87.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $788,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,730,954 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $613,915,000 after purchasing an additional 2,166,396 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Fortinet by 76.2% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,109,016 shares of the software maker's stock worth $326,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777,115 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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