F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $415.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $380.00 to $415.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the network technology company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Evercore raised F5 from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $475.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on F5 from $500.00 to $515.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $461.00 price objective (up from $423.00) on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on F5 from $386.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $416.62.

F5 Stock Performance

Shares of FFIV opened at $388.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $401.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $333.43. F5 has a 1 year low of $223.76 and a 1 year high of $435.00.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.00 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $865.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $834.60 million. F5 had a net margin of 21.95% and a return on equity of 21.54%. The business’s revenue was up 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.16 EPS. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that F5 will post 12.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 1,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.58, for a total value of $439,010.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,060 shares in the company, valued at $2,664,474.80. This trade represents a 14.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total transaction of $1,276,346.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 146,989 shares in the company, valued at $49,592,618.71. This represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,579 shares of company stock worth $7,836,860. 0.48% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,447 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in F5 by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,190 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Pacific Sage Partners LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Pacific Sage Partners LLC now owns 7,122 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,818,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in F5 by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 968 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.5% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

F5 News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target for F5 to $515, implying substantial upside from the current trading level and signaling confidence in the company’s earnings and growth prospects. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases F5 Price Target to $515
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley increased its F5 price target to $415, indicating a more constructive view despite the stock’s elevated valuation. Morgan Stanley Increases F5 Price Target to $415
• Positive Sentiment: A new Buy rating from an analyst adds support to the bullish case for F5 and its technology-market position. New Buy Rating for F5
• Positive Sentiment: F5 launched AI Fleet Management to accelerate BIG-IP security fixes, potentially improving customer security operations and creating additional demand for its AI-enabled offerings. F5 Launches AI Fleet Management
• Positive Sentiment: The integration of F5 AI Guardrails with NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails expands runtime protection for enterprise AI applications, strengthening F5’s positioning in the growing AI-security market. F5 Integrates AI Guardrails with NVIDIA NeMo Guardrails
• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays said F5’s stock is expected to rise, but separately maintained a Hold rating, suggesting upside may be balanced by valuation or execution risks. Barclays Says F5 Stock Price Expected to Rise Barclays Gives F5 a Hold Rating
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded F5 from Strong Buy to Hold, reflecting caution after the stock’s strong run and potentially demanding valuation. Zacks Research

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.