F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Receives $237.11 Average PT from Analysts

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $237.11.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target 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. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

F5 Stock Down 0.6 %

FFIV opened at $255.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $244.73 and its 200-day moving average is $211.47. F5 has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $264.50.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that F5 will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,875 shares of company stock worth $644,889. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in F5 by 3.6% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,489,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,208,763,000 after buying an additional 191,020 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in F5 by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,187,222 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $701,825,000 after purchasing an additional 16,663 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 10.5% during the second 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in F5 by 8.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,573,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $345,560,000 after purchasing an additional 117,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% in 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. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.