F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $246.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price target hoisted by Piper Sandler from $186.00 to $246.00 in a research report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on F5 from $185.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of F5 stock opened at $233.88 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.46, a PEG ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 12 month low of $149.40 and a 12 month high of $250.46.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 10.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $273,107.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,359,543.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 shares were sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,007.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,700 shares of company stock worth $1,170,702 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of F5 during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 9,100.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.