F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $260.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $240.00 to $260.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.15% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on FFIV. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $239.33.

F5 Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $252.07. 69,222 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 234,655. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $247.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.81. F5 has a 1-year low of $159.01 and a 1-year high of $264.50. The firm has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced 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 return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The business had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that F5 will post 11.01 EPS 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 repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in F5 during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in F5 by 9,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the second quarter worth about $66,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.