F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $200.89.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $191.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $173.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.70. F5 has a one year low of $145.45 and a one year high of $205.92.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.39. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The firm had revenue of $695.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that F5 will post 10.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other F5 news, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.93, for a total value of $377,842.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,315.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other F5 news, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 2,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.93, for a total value of $377,842.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $817,315.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.55, for a total transaction of $245,847.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 122,912 shares in the company, valued at $20,839,729.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,885 shares of company stock valued at $1,888,222 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of F5 by 23.6% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 16,144 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 3,080 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in F5 by 5.2% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,579 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,855,000 after buying an additional 823 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its holdings in F5 by 4.9% during the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in F5 by 138.2% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 24,685 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $4,252,000 after buying an additional 14,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its holdings in F5 by 68,003.4% during the second quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 19,750 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,402,000 after buying an additional 19,721 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is 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.