F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $237.11.

FFIV has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

F5 Stock Performance

F5 stock opened at $255.63 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $244.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.78. F5 has a 1 year low of $159.01 and a 1 year high of $264.50. The company has a market capitalization of $14.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company 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 company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that F5 will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 1.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,875 shares of company stock valued at $644,889. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in F5 in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new position in F5 during the 2nd quarter worth $66,000. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.