F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Increased to $240.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $205.00 to $240.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on FFIV. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $240.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $212.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $188.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a PE ratio of 28.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 52-week low of $148.10 and a 52-week high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $695.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.06 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 19.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that F5 will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was 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 directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,159,066.55. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total value of $98,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,551 shares of company stock valued at $1,334,698 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of F5 by 2.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,030 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its position in F5 by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in F5 by 0.6% in the first quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,531 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,186,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 6.3% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of F5 by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,231 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,862,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 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.