Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Rating Raised to “Outperform” at Daiwa Securities Group

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Daiwa Securities Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $150.00 target price on the software maker’s stock. Daiwa Securities Group‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.09% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FTNT. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 price target on Fortinet and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Mizuho set a $118.00 price objective on Fortinet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Bank of America lowered shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective (up from $102.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $175.00 target price on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.53.

Fortinet Trading Up 1.5%

FTNT stock opened at $128.11 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.12 billion, a PE ratio of 41.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $197.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $170.32 and its 200 day moving average is $128.78.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 3.20 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,483 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.31, for a total value of $20,881,366.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,849,857,423.32. This trade represents a 0.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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, COO John Whittle sold 53,865 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.44, for a total transaction of $8,911,425.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $16,045,529.28. This represents a 35.71% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 221,304 shares of company stock worth $30,675,309. 17.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Fortinet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,561,650,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Fortinet by 45.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $940,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,598,487 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Fortinet by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 9,651,024 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $788,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500,194 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,432,842,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Fortinet in the second quarter valued at approximately $979,062,000. 83.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported quarterly revenue and earnings above consensus and raised its 2026 outlook. Product sales reportedly grew 37%, and longer-term cybersecurity demand tied to AI remains a potential tailwind. Fortinet sinks despite beating and raising guidance
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Ken Xie and VP Michael Xie sold shares through pre-arranged 10b5-1 plans to cover tax withholding on vested awards. The sales were small relative to their remaining holdings, making them a limited signal about the company’s prospects. Fortinet VP share sale
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the earnings beat, investors have reportedly been unsettled by slower-than-expected product growth and a weaker service outlook. Fortinet’s recent steep selloff has also coincided with broader weakness in technology and cybersecurity stocks, adding pressure to FTNT. Fortinet earnings analysis and service outlook Why Fortinet stock is falling

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.