Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirty-six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twenty-seven have issued a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.1111.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price (up previously from $66.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on Fortinet from $90.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 6th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Fortinet from $105.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Fortinet from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.51, for a total value of $13,710,537.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,391,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,445,911,452.29. This represents a 0.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,546 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.53, for a total transaction of $306,835.38. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,492,018 shares in the company, valued at $907,874,317.54. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 18.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth $1,640,900,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Fortinet by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,354,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894,355 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Fortinet by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,564,558 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $467,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,132,109 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 30.9% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,575,662 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $636,962,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,033 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Fortinet by 40.9% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,971,648 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $561,156,000 after purchasing an additional 1,733,670 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $80.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.58. The company has a market cap of $60.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $114.82.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 28.58%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.63 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.660-2.700 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.730-0.750 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.