Brokerages Set F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) PT at $233.56

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $233.56.

FFIV has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,123,221.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at $6,123,221.25. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,250 shares of company stock worth $897,594. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $146,118,000 after buying an additional 835,912 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $61,386,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 1,681.1% in the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 285,639 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $62,898,000 after purchasing an additional 269,602 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in F5 by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $111,932,000 after purchasing an additional 214,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of F5 by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $294,392,000 after purchasing an additional 162,820 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV opened at $242.67 on Tuesday. F5 has a 12 month low of $158.22 and a 12 month high of $250.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $219.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.53. The stock has a market cap of $14.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 10.99 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

F5 Company Profile

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.