Fortinet’s (FTNT) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Arete Research downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $117.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 price target (down from $185.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday, October 26th. Wolfe Research set a $175.00 price objective on Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Fortinet from $118.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.94.

Fortinet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of FTNT opened at $136.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a PE ratio of 44.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $73.55 and a 1 year high of $197.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.28.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.96% and a return on equity of 152.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In other Fortinet news, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total transaction of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,365,586.38. The trade was a 2.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. 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 have sold a total of 221,303 shares of company stock valued at $36,164,034 over the last 90 days. 17.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Puff Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Puff Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Macro LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 1.9% during the third quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 2,981 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 19,581 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kintegral Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Fortinet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 12,648 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,261,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Fortinet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of approximately $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding consensus estimates. Billings increased 29%, while operating margins reached a record. Fortinet Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion in revenue and $3.54-$3.58 in EPS. Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $0.93-$0.95 also exceeds the consensus estimate of $0.86. Fortinet Raises Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $1.2 billion in share repurchases, and quarterly free cash flow was approximately $865 million. Analysts at TD Cowen, Rosenblatt and Truist retained bullish ratings despite lowering their price targets. Fortinet Adds to Buyback Program
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet is technically oversold after a sharp multi-week decline, while rising earnings estimates could support a rebound. However, the technical signal does not resolve concerns about the company’s growth mix. Fortinet May See a Trend Reversal
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13%, versus 37% growth in product revenue. Investors are concerned that hardware sales tied to AI infrastructure are not converting into recurring services quickly enough, reducing near-term revenue visibility. The Real Reason Fortinet Dropped
• Negative Sentiment: Management lowered its services outlook, while fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies growth deceleration from the third quarter. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs and longer component lead times added to investor concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target to $115 and assigned an underweight rating; Susquehanna lowered its target to $145 and rated the shares neutral. Other firms, including Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and Scotiabank, also reduced targets or ratings. Analysts Cut Fortinet Forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: The broader technology and cybersecurity sell-off is amplifying the reaction, despite a major cryptocurrency hack highlighting demand for digital security. Investors are also questioning whether Fortinet’s premium valuation remains justified as growth slows.

About Fortinet

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect networks, endpoints, applications, cloud environments and operational technology systems. The company’s portfolio includes next-generation firewalls, secure networking products, endpoint security, web application security, email security, identity and access solutions, and security information and event management tools.

Its product offerings include FortiGate network security appliances and cloud-based firewalls, along with FortiSwitch, FortiAP and FortiExtender solutions for secure connectivity.