Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) Upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company to Strong Sell Rating

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a research note on Friday, February 6th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Fortinet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Fortinet from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of Fortinet in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Fortinet in a report on Friday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.62.

Fortinet Price Performance

FTNT stock opened at $81.10 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $60.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.37, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Fortinet has a 12-month low of $70.12 and a 12-month high of $109.33. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.42.

Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The software maker reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.86 billion. Fortinet had a return on equity of 124.21% and a net margin of 27.26%.The business’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. Fortinet has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.590-0.630 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.940-3.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Fortinet will post 2.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortinet

In other news, VP Michael Xie sold 343,106 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $27,935,690.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 10,210,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $831,321,160.44. The trade was a 3.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ken Xie sold 175,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.42, for a total transaction of $14,308,506.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 51,396,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,184,693,666.70. The trade was a 0.34% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 18.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Fortinet during the second quarter worth $25,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in Fortinet during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Pinnacle Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Fortinet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Institutional investors own 83.71% of the company’s stock.

Fortinet Company Profile

Fortinet, Inc (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a multinational cybersecurity company that develops and delivers integrated security solutions for enterprise, service provider and government customers worldwide. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company was co‑founded by Ken Xie and Michael Xie. Ken Xie serves as chairman and chief executive officer, and the company operates through a global sales, channel and services organization to support customers across the Americas, EMEA and Asia‑Pacific.

Fortinet’s product portfolio centers on network security appliances and software, with its FortiGate next‑generation firewalls and the FortiOS operating system forming a core platform.