F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also commented on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of F5 from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.89.

F5 Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV traded down $8.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $195.48. The stock had a trading volume of 912,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 508,598. F5 has a 1-year low of $145.45 and a 1-year high of $205.92. The company has a market capitalization of $11.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $172.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.55.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The firm had revenue of $695.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 earnings per share. F5’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that F5 will post 9.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Pelzer Frank 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 1,420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.76, for a total value of $283,659.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,610,262.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Pelzer Frank 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,335 shares of company stock worth $2,131,981. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,294,000 after buying an additional 29,154 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its position in shares of F5 by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,986,000 after acquiring an additional 317,263 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,122,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $200,994,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 14.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 625,734 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $118,607,000 after purchasing an additional 77,611 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $90,245,000 after purchasing an additional 45,843 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About F5

F5, Inc provides multi-cloud application security and delivery solutions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific region. The company's distributed cloud services enable its customers to deploy, secure, and operate applications in any architecture, from on-premises to the public cloud.