Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Price Target Raised to $115.00

Key Points

• Citigroup raised Fortinet’s price target from $90 to $115 while keeping a neutral rating, implying only modest upside from the prior close.
• Fortinet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $0.82 versus $0.62 expected and revenue of $1.85 billion, up 20.1% year over year, and it raised its full-year guidance.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: several firms lifted targets after earnings, but the broader consensus is still “Hold,” and insider sales by the CEO and a vice president added some caution.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) had its price target lifted by investment analysts at Citigroup from $90.00 to $115.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the software maker's stock. Citigroup's target price points to a potential upside of 0.83% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on FTNT. Freedom Capital cut Fortinet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $83.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Barclays set a $115.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Compass Point set a $100.00 price target on Fortinet in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $85.00 price target on Fortinet in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.45.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Fortinet stock traded up $6.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $114.05. The stock had a trading volume of 7,391,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,587,840. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $70.12 and a 12 month high of $114.66. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $82.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.50 billion, a PE ratio of 44.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a return on equity of 149.52% and a net margin of 27.49%.The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue 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. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,927,517 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. The trade was a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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, CEO Ken Xie sold 5,355 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total value of $476,059.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,978,004 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. The trade was a 0.01% decrease in their position. 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. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 10,327 shares of the software maker's stock worth $976,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $585,000. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Fortinet by 29.1% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,299 shares of the software maker's stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter worth approximately $1,136,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Fortinet by 27.4% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 144,989 shares of the software maker's stock worth $15,328,000 after buying an additional 31,202 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet delivered a “beat and raise” quarter, with revenue up 20% year over year to $1.85 billion, EPS above estimates, and full-year guidance lifted, signaling stronger demand and better profitability ahead.
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI-related security needs, cloud demand, and data center wins are helping drive growth, easing earlier investor concerns that AI could disrupt cybersecurity software demand.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts turned more constructive after the results, including a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) upgrade and higher price targets from Rosenblatt, UBS, Susquehanna, Piper Sandler, and BTIG, which can support further upside expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some firms remained cautious or mixed, with several Hold/Neutral calls and one Underweight rating still in place, suggesting valuation concerns have not disappeared.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by the CEO and a vice president may create some short-term caution, although it does not outweigh the strength of the earnings and guidance news.

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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