Fortinet’s Shares Jump 5.2% After TD Cowen Buy Upgrade, $90 Target Intact
Three analysts have Sell ratings, twenty-four rate Fortinet as Hold, six as Buy and one as Strong Buy, yielding a $90.04 average 12-month price target. TD Cowen’s recent upgrade to Buy and the stock’s 5.19% gain on AI sector strength highlight renewed bullish sentiment ahead of FY2025 guidance of 2.660-2.700 EPS.
1. Analyst Ratings Breakdown
Thirty-four research firms currently cover Fortinet, with three assigning a sell recommendation, twenty-four issuing holds, six issuing buys and one assigning a strong buy. Over the past twelve months, the consensus 12-month target for the stock stands at approximately ninety dollars. Recent notes include a reaffirmed hold rating from Weiss Ratings on December 29, Morgan Stanley’s maintained underweight call on December 18, Barclays’ equal-weight rating dated November 6 and UBS Group’s neutral rating on the same day. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also reiterated an underweight view on December 17.
2. Insider Transactions
On November 3, CEO Ken Xie sold 158,485 shares for a total proceeds of $13.71 million, reducing his holdings to 51,391,879 shares (approximately 17.20% insider ownership in total). On the same day, Vice President Michael Xie disposed of 3,546 shares for proceeds of $306,835, trimming his position to 10,492,018 shares. Both sales were disclosed via SEC filings and together represent a modest decrease in insider stake percentages.
3. Institutional Holdings Activity
Vanguard Group increased its position by 4.0% during Q3, acquiring 2.89 million additional shares to hold 75.58 million shares valued over $6.35 billion. State Street upped its stake by 1.6% to 29.66 million shares (approximate value $2.49 billion). Geode Capital Management grew its position by 5.2% to 16.92 million shares (valued near $1.78 billion) in Q2. Norges Bank established a new position worth roughly $1.64 billion in the second quarter, while Invesco raised its holdings by 17.0% to 10.82 million shares (about $909 million) in Q3. Institutional investors now control around 83.7% of outstanding shares.
4. Recent Earnings and Guidance
In its November 5 quarterly report, Fortinet delivered earnings per share of $0.74, beating consensus by $0.11, alongside revenue of $1.72 billion, up 14.4% year-over-year. Net margin reached 28.6% and return on equity hit 118.3%. Management set full-year fiscal 2025 EPS guidance between 2.660 and 2.700 and Q4 EPS guidance of 0.730 to 0.750. Analysts currently forecast full-year EPS of 2.09 for the current fiscal period.