DZ Bank Downgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Hold

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was downgraded by equities research analysts at DZ Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. They presently have a $125.00 target price on the software maker’s stock. DZ Bank’s price target suggests a potential downside of 1.19% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FTNT. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Fortinet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price target on Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.83.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT opened at $126.50 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business’s 50-day moving average is $88.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.65. Fortinet has a 1 year low of $70.12 and a 1 year high of $126.61.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.58 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% on a year-over-year basis. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the 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 owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at $882,456,986.13. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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, 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,709,744,555.60. This trade represents 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. Insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Bull Harbor Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the first quarter worth about $1,345,000. Strategic Planning Inc. boosted its position in Fortinet by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Inc. now owns 46,951 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $3,837,000 after purchasing an additional 3,151 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Fortinet by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 3,843,328 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $314,077,000 after purchasing an additional 221,682 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 33.6% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,129 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 2,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 108.3% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 157,306 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $12,855,000 after purchasing an additional 81,778 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.