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

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $233.56.

A number of research firms recently commented on FFIV. StockNews.com raised F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of F5 stock opened at $254.13 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $231.22 and a 200-day moving average of $200.93. The stock has a market cap of $14.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 52-week low of $159.01 and a 52-week high of $254.97.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business 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%. F5’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that F5 will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.50, for a total value of $130,500.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,425 shares in the company, valued at $6,617,437.50. This represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 8.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039 over the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 376,215 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $82,553,000 after buying an additional 1,554 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,825 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,824,000 after buying an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $192,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,531,000. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $622,000. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by 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.