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

Shares of F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $282.56.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $262.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th.

F5 Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of FFIV opened at $282.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. F5 has a 12-month low of $164.45 and a 12-month high of $313.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $266.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $267.68.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $590.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.91 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. F5’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.91 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that F5 will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at F5

In related news, EVP Scot Frazier Rogers sold 3,486 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.18, for a total value of $1,022,025.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,885,588.50. This represents a 14.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.37, for a total value of $344,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 148,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,446,454.39. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,577 shares of company stock valued at $2,926,029 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 134.1% in the first quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 103 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of F5 by 275.0% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 105 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Groupe la Francaise acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 90.66% of the stock is 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.