F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $309.8889.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FFIV. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $325.00 price objective (up from $295.00) on shares of F5 in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of F5 from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of F5 from $325.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of F5 from $336.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised F5 from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th.

F5 Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $271.36 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $270.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $282.48. F5 has a 12-month low of $223.76 and a 12-month high of $346.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The network technology company reported $4.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.63 by $0.82. The company had revenue of $822.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $755.97 million. F5 had a return on equity of 22.08% and a net margin of 22.45%.F5’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.84 EPS. F5 has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 3.340-3.460 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 15.650-16.050 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.25, for a total value of $487,192.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,882,710. This trade represents a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael L. Dreyer sold 3,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.41, for a total transaction of $866,151.47. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $369,674.69. The trade was a 70.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 22,918 shares of company stock worth $6,044,189. Insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in F5 during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $883,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its position in shares of F5 by 27.0% in the 3rd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 26,330 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $8,510,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in shares of F5 by 53.0% in the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 5,204 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,802 shares during the period. Genus Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 91.9% during the second quarter. Genus Capital Management Inc. now owns 13,760 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,050,000 after purchasing an additional 6,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its stake in F5 by 124.1% in the second quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 8,381 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,467,000 after purchasing an additional 4,641 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About F5

F5 Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company’s core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5’s product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.