Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Downgraded by DZ Bank to "Hold"

Key Points

• DZ Bank downgraded Fortinet from buy to hold and kept a $125 price target, implying only modest downside from the current share price.
• Fortinet recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.82 topping estimates and revenue of $1.85 billion, up 20.1% year over year.
• The stock has drawn a mixed Wall Street view overall, with MarketBeat showing a Hold consensus and an average price target of $101.83, while insiders also made small pre-arranged sales tied to tax withholding.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at DZ Bank from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday. They currently have a $125.00 price target on the software maker's stock. DZ Bank's price target would suggest a potential downside of 1.19% from the company's current price.

FTNT has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 target price (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $101.83.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $126.50 on Tuesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $88.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $92.68 billion, a PE ratio of 48.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.92. Fortinet has a twelve month low of $70.12 and a twelve month high of $126.61.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. The firm'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, equities research analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 5,355 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $476,059.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,978,004 shares in the company, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. This trade represents a 0.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total value of $220,269.42. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,927,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 own 17.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Fortinet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in Fortinet during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Fortinet by 408.3% during the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 305 shares of the software maker's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Palisade Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Fortinet in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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