Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price Target Lowered at Susquehanna

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective dropped by Susquehanna from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the software maker’s stock. Susquehanna‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 4.24% from the stock’s current price.

FTNT has been the topic of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up from $116.00) on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $145.00 target price (down from $185.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho set a $118.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $149.19.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $139.10 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $171.64 and a 200 day moving average of $127.99. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $197.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 182.65% and a net margin of 28.96%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 3.10 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Fortinet

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total value of $26,266,662.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,613,022,886.80. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Fortinet by 408.3% in the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 305 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Burk Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 102.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Timbuktu Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of $2.08 billion, up approximately 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding the roughly $2.06 billion revenue and $0.86 EPS consensus estimates. Product revenue rose 37% to $765 million, billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion, and operating margins reached record levels. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its outlook. Fourth-quarter adjusted EPS is projected at $0.93-$0.95, above the $0.86 consensus, while full-year 2026 EPS guidance of $3.54-$3.58 exceeds the $3.38 estimate. Full-year revenue guidance of $8.1-$8.2 billion is approximately in line with expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Strong cash generation remains a potential support: Fortinet produced $865 million of free cash flow in the quarter and expanded its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, leaving approximately $2 billion available. Fortinet adds $1.2 billion to its buyback program
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts have reduced price targets but remain divided. TD Cowen maintained a “buy” rating with a $190 target, while Barclays, Truist, Citigroup, Stifel, Scotiabank and others lowered targets or retained neutral-to-hold ratings.
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13% to $1.31 billion, far below product growth. Management also lowered its service-revenue outlook, raising concerns that customers are buying security hardware for AI infrastructure but delaying related recurring-service activations. Software stocks slide after Fortinet results
• Negative Sentiment: Fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies slower growth than in the latest quarter, while pricing benefits and lower-cost inventory are expected to normalize. Investors worry about margin pressure and weaker growth at Fortinet’s premium earnings multiple.
• Negative Sentiment: The selloff has intensified broader cybersecurity-sector weakness, with commentary from Jim Cramer favoring Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike over Fortinet. Jim Cramer Says Sell Fortinet

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.