Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Citigroup

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $185.00 to $140.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the software maker’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on shares of Fortinet from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Roth Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.94.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $136.08 on Thursday. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $197.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $171.34 and its 200-day moving average is $128.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.18, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly 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 last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Fortinet news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.66, for a total transaction of $26,266,662.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 52,972,372 shares in the company, valued at $8,616,486,029.52. This represents a 0.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at 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, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total transaction of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% 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. Insiders have sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FTNT. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Fortinet by 408.3% in the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 305 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Burk Holdings LLC bought a new position in Fortinet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in Fortinet by 102.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $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 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Fortinet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet reported third-quarter revenue of approximately $2.08 billion, up 20.5% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $0.91, exceeding consensus estimates. Billings increased 29%, while operating margins reached a record. Fortinet Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised full-year 2026 guidance to $8.1 billion-$8.2 billion in revenue and $3.54-$3.58 in EPS. Fourth-quarter EPS guidance of $0.93-$0.95 also exceeds the consensus estimate of $0.86. Fortinet Raises Guidance
• Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $1.2 billion in share repurchases, and quarterly free cash flow was approximately $865 million. Analysts at TD Cowen, Rosenblatt and Truist retained bullish ratings despite lowering their price targets. Fortinet Adds to Buyback Program
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet is technically oversold after a sharp multi-week decline, while rising earnings estimates could support a rebound. However, the technical signal does not resolve concerns about the company’s growth mix. Fortinet May See a Trend Reversal
• Negative Sentiment: Service revenue grew only 13%, versus 37% growth in product revenue. Investors are concerned that hardware sales tied to AI infrastructure are not converting into recurring services quickly enough, reducing near-term revenue visibility. The Real Reason Fortinet Dropped
• Negative Sentiment: Management lowered its services outlook, while fourth-quarter revenue guidance implies growth deceleration from the third quarter. Normalizing pricing benefits, higher inventory costs and longer component lead times added to investor concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo cut its price target to $115 and assigned an underweight rating; Susquehanna lowered its target to $145 and rated the shares neutral. Other firms, including Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and Scotiabank, also reduced targets or ratings. Analysts Cut Fortinet Forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: The broader technology and cybersecurity sell-off is amplifying the reaction, despite a major cryptocurrency hack highlighting demand for digital security. Investors are also questioning whether Fortinet’s premium valuation remains justified as growth slows.

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.