Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Reaches New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Key Points

• Fortinet shares reached a new 52-week high, trading as high as $192.77 and closing near $191.93, up about 1.5%.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.79, well below its recent trading price.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.90 in earnings per share versus a $0.75 consensus estimate and $2.05 billion in revenue, up 25.6% year over year.

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $192.77 and last traded at $191.9270, with a volume of 86562 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $189.10.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, August 24th. Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $163.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised Fortinet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Fortinet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $152.79.

Fortinet Stock Up 1.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $140.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $166.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $138.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Fortinet, Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,045,529.28. This trade represents a 35.71% 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter valued at about $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter worth approximately $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter valued at approximately $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter worth approximately $656,852,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company's stock.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops and provides cybersecurity products and services for businesses, governments, and service providers. The company's portfolio is designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments, and operational technology from cyber threats.

Its offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiSASE secure access service edge solutions. Fortinet also provides centralized management and analytics through products such as FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, along with security operations, threat intelligence, and other subscription-based services through its FortiGuard portfolio.

Founded in 2000, Fortinet serves customers globally through direct sales, channel partners, and managed security service providers.

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