Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Has Average Target Price of $152.79 According to Analysts

Fortinet, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTNT) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the thirty-six brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nineteen have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $152.79.

FTNT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho set a $125.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Fortinet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, July 30th.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $189.28 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $165.91 and a 200-day moving average of $138.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.03. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $192.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.15. Fortinet had a net margin of 28.17% and a return on equity of 191.54%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Fortinet’s revenue was up 25.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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 predict that Fortinet will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Trending Headlines about Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Higher earnings forecasts: Scotiabank raised its Fortinet FY2026 EPS estimate to $3.10 from $2.77 and its FY2027 estimate to $3.42 from $2.95. The firm maintained a “Sector Perform” rating and a $163 price target. Scotiabank Has Strong Forecast for Fortinet FY2027 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Potential earnings beat: Zacks included FTNT among five highly ranked stocks considered likely to exceed consensus earnings estimates in their upcoming reports, supporting expectations for continued operating momentum. Looking for Earnings Beat? Buy These 5 Top-Ranked Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Industrial cybersecurity expansion: Rockwell Automation is adding managed services supporting Fortinet firewalls, potentially expanding Fortinet’s reach among manufacturing and operational-technology customers. Rockwell Automation Expands SecureOT Managed Services
• Neutral Sentiment: Relative investment appeal: A comparison with CrowdStrike highlights that both cybersecurity stocks are near 52-week highs, with valuation and earnings-estimate trends likely to determine which has greater upside. CrowdStrike vs. Fortinet: Which Cybersecurity Stock Is Poised for Higher Highs?
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation concerns: Analysts question whether Fortinet’s future cash generation can support a multiyear share-price surge. With a price-to-earnings ratio near 67 and Scotiabank’s $163 target below the market price, profit-taking and caution may be weighing on FTNT. Can Fortinet Stay Fully Priced on Future Cash Flow?

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total value of $8,911,425.60. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,045,529.28. This trade represents a 35.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total transaction of $507,568.23. Following the sale, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. Insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter worth $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter worth $979,062,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Fortinet by 87.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $788,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter worth $656,852,000. Hedge funds and other 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.