F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $192.22.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $204.00 price objective on shares of F5 in a research note on Friday, February 9th. KeyCorp raised their target price on F5 from $186.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on F5 from $170.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $181.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.11. F5 has a 52-week low of $129.93 and a 52-week high of $199.49. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $187.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.08.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The network technology company reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $684.77 million. F5 had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 20.81%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that F5 will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total value of $1,203,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,173,653.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.06, for a total value of $155,784.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,008 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,747,364.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 6,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.02, for a total value of $1,203,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 123,251 shares in the company, valued at $23,173,653.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,201 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,065. 0.58% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 203.5% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 484,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $78,052,000 after acquiring an additional 324,886 shares during the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP raised its position in F5 by 38.3% in the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $204,986,000 after purchasing an additional 317,263 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in F5 in the fourth quarter worth $45,937,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 13.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,812,095 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $292,001,000 after buying an additional 212,784 shares during the period. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of F5 by 3,545.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 172,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,874,000 after buying an additional 168,232 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.