Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock Price Target Cut by Scotiabank

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Scotiabank from $163.00 to $140.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Scotiabank‘s price target points to a potential downside of 19.58% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Fortinet in a report on Thursday. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $186.00 price objective (down from $203.00) on shares of Fortinet in a research report on Thursday. Capital One Financial upped their target price on Fortinet from $150.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. HSBC increased their target price on Fortinet from $102.00 to $107.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Roth Capital lifted their price target on shares of Fortinet from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortinet currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $153.08.

Fortinet Trading Down 5.9%

FTNT stock opened at $174.08 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $171.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Fortinet has a 52-week low of $73.55 and a 52-week high of $197.13. The firm has a market cap of $127.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.30, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 1.03.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The software maker reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Fortinet had a return on equity of 191.54% and a net margin of 28.17%. The firm had revenue of $2.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.74 EPS. Fortinet’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Fortinet will post 3.10 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 3,121 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.63, for a total value of $507,568.23. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 9,918,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,613,022,886.80. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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, COO John Whittle sold 2,835 shares of Fortinet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.74, for a total value of $478,377.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 96,987 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders sold 221,303 shares of company stock worth $36,164,034. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Fortinet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FTNT. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet during the second quarter worth $9,561,650,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter worth about $1,432,842,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Fortinet in the second quarter worth about $979,062,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Fortinet by 45.5% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 11,506,173 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $940,284,000 after buying an additional 3,598,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Fortinet by 87.4% during the first 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 during the last quarter. 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 adjusted earnings of $0.91 per share on $2.08 billion in revenue, topping consensus estimates of $0.86 and $2.06 billion, respectively. Revenue increased approximately 20% year over year. Fortinet Reports Strong Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Product revenue grew 37% to $765 million, while billings increased 29% to $2.34 billion. Fortinet also raised its 2026 revenue outlook, outlining expected billings of $9.568 billion to $9.718 billion. Fortinet raises guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Management increased its share-repurchase authorization by $1.2 billion, leaving $2 billion available, and reported strong operating cash flow and free cash flow. These actions may support earnings per share and signal management confidence. Fortinet adds to buyback program
• Neutral Sentiment: Despite the quarterly beat and higher outlook, analysts broadly reduced their price targets. Rosenblatt retained a buy rating at $175, while Needham reaffirmed its hold rating. Analysts cut Fortinet forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: Investors focused on slowing growth in Fortinet’s service revenue and billings growth that fell short of lofty expectations. The reaction suggests the market was anticipating a stronger outlook despite the reported beat. Why Fortinet stock fell after earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America downgraded Fortinet from buy to neutral with a $140 price target. Citigroup and Stifel also cut their targets to $140, while Barclays reduced its target to $155, implying downside from recent levels.
• Negative Sentiment: The selloff reflects broader pressure on software and cybersecurity stocks, including concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt established security platforms and intensify competition from Palo Alto Networks. Software stocks slide

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.