Daiwa Securities Group Upgrades Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to “Outperform”

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by investment analysts at Daiwa Securities Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $150.00 price objective on the software maker’s stock. Daiwa Securities Group‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.09% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Arete Research downgraded shares of Fortinet from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $117.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Fortinet from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Piper Sandler set a $140.00 price objective on Fortinet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $165.00 target price on Fortinet and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $155.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-four have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Fortinet has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.53.

Fortinet Stock Performance

Shares of Fortinet stock opened at $128.11 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $128.78. Fortinet has a one year low of $73.55 and a one year high of $197.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.59, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.04.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 152.72% and a net margin of 28.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Fortinet will post 3.20 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Fortinet news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.49, for a total value of $404,138.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,328,436.40. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 on Tuesday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,365,586.38. This represents a 2.84% 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 221,304 shares of company stock worth $30,675,309. 17.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Fortinet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Burk Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Dunhill Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 102.5% in the second quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 164 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. NFSG Corp purchased a new stake in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Timbuktu Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Fortinet during the second quarter valued at $31,000. 83.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about 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

Fortinet Company Profile

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.