Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded at Wedbush

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wedbush to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday, Zacks reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FTNT. Susquehanna lifted their target price on Fortinet from $115.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. BTIG Research upped their price target on shares of Fortinet from $186.00 to $203.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $175.00 price target on shares of Fortinet and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Fortinet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Fortinet presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.91.

Fortinet Price Performance

Fortinet stock opened at $156.07 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $114.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.95, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Fortinet has a 12 month low of $73.55 and a 12 month high of $173.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $158.99 and its 200-day moving average is $125.63.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The software maker reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Fortinet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.410-3.470 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.830-0.870 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Fortinet will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ken Xie sold 161,482 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. 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. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FTNT. Expressive Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Fortinet in the 4th quarter valued at about $646,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter worth approximately $492,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,422,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new stake in Fortinet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $14,638,000. Finally, Westerkirk Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Fortinet by 41.9% in the fourth quarter. Westerkirk Capital Inc. now owns 52,500 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $4,169,000 after buying an additional 15,500 shares during the period. 83.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Fortinet

Here are the key news stories impacting Fortinet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Fortinet was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Hybrid Mesh Firewall and ranked highest for Ability to Execute for the second consecutive year. The recognition supports Fortinet’s competitive position in enterprise cybersecurity, particularly its integrated networking, cloud, AI and security offerings. Fortinet Named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant Report for Hybrid Mesh Firewall
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analysis cited Fortinet’s raised 2026 guidance, demand for AI-security products and expanding margins as fundamental support for the stock. Its latest reported quarter also showed revenue growth of approximately 26% year over year and an earnings beat, reinforcing the company’s growth case. Is FTNT Stock Worth Buying at a Premium P/S or Should Investors Wait?
• Neutral Sentiment: Fortinet recently advanced while the broader market declined, indicating relative strength, but the move does not alter the larger debate over whether the company’s valuation fully reflects its growth prospects. Fortinet Advances While Market Declines
• Negative Sentiment: Wedbush identified CrowdStrike as its leading cybersecurity pick while downgrading Fortinet, along with Check Point, Varonis and Telos. The downgrade likely adds selling pressure by raising concerns about relative upside after Fortinet’s substantial rally and elevated valuation. Wedbush Cybersecurity Downgrades
• Negative Sentiment: Fortinet’s premium price-to-sales valuation remains a concern, particularly with some analyst price targets below the current trading range. Reported insider activity also shows executives selling shares without disclosed open-market purchases during the past six months, which may weigh modestly on sentiment.

Fortinet Company Profile

Fortinet, Inc develops cybersecurity products and services designed to protect enterprise, small and midsize business, service provider, and government networks. Its portfolio covers network security, endpoint protection, cloud security, secure access service edge (SASE), security operations, and zero-trust access.

The company’s offerings include FortiGate next-generation firewalls, FortiSwitch secure networking switches, FortiAP wireless access points, FortiClient endpoint security, and FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer management and analytics tools.