F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Sets New 12-Month High Following Strong Earnings

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $199.80 and last traded at $197.00, with a volume of 413429 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $177.59.

The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. F5 had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company had revenue of $695.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $686.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.46 EPS. F5’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of F5 from $200.00 to $180.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $197.56.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total value of $88,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,481,229.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.11, for a total transaction of $243,759.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,362 shares in the company, valued at $20,906,495.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.20, for a total transaction of $88,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,481,229.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,766 shares of company stock worth $1,990,890 in the last quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,415,294,000 after buying an additional 29,154 shares in the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 38.3% in the fourth quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $204,986,000 after buying an additional 317,263 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,122,995 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $200,994,000 after buying an additional 6,010 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 14.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 625,734 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $118,607,000 after buying an additional 77,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 9.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 523,982 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $90,245,000 after buying an additional 45,843 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a PE ratio of 23.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $171.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.09.

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.