Zacks Research Upgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to Strong-Buy

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FTNT. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Fortinet from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twenty-three have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.45.

Fortinet Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:FTNT opened at $122.78 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $89.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.41, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Fortinet has a fifty-two week low of $70.12 and a fifty-two week high of $123.33.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The software maker reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $1.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Fortinet had a net margin of 27.49% and a return on equity of 160.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. Fortinet has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.720-0.760 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.100-3.160 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Fortinet will post 2.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 2,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.89, for a total transaction of $220,269.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 9,927,517 shares in the company, valued at approximately $882,456,986.13. This trade represents a 0.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.90, for a total transaction of $476,059.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,978,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,709,744,555.60. This trade represents a 0.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FTNT. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,152,917,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 87.4% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $788,682,000 after buying an additional 4,500,194 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $940,284,000 after buying an additional 3,598,487 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,581,275 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $6,354,874,000 after buying an additional 2,894,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Fortinet by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,730,954 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $613,915,000 after buying an additional 2,166,396 shares in the last quarter. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Fortinet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Fortinet as one of several security stocks benefiting from surging demand for cybersecurity solutions as companies accelerate digital transformation and cloud migration. 4 Security Stocks to Focus on From a Flourishing Industry
• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank raised its FY2026 EPS estimate for Fortinet to $2.76 from $2.62, which can support investor confidence in earnings power even though the firm kept a Sector Perform rating and a $110 target.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups pointed to Fortinet’s strong Q1 beat, AI-driven demand, and institutional buying as reasons the stock has maintained strong momentum after earnings. Fortinet Stock’s Momentum Score Skyrockets As AI-Driven Q1 Beat Ignites Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Scotiabank also trimmed its FY2027 EPS estimate to $2.95 from $3.02, which is a mild headwind but not enough to offset the more upbeat near-term outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet was mentioned in broader cybersecurity and market commentary alongside peers such as CrowdStrike and Okta, reinforcing sector strength rather than providing company-specific news.

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.