Royal Bank of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $205.00 to $240.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on FFIV. StockNews.com downgraded F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of F5 from $185.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of F5 stock opened at $232.20 on Tuesday. F5 has a 52-week low of $149.40 and a 52-week high of $250.46. The company has a market capitalization of $13.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $214.78 and a 200 day moving average of $189.96.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 10.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $273,107.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,359,543.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $273,107.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,359,543.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 5,700 shares of company stock valued at $1,170,702. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 9,100.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. 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.