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

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $200.89.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FFIV. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on F5 from $182.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 31,108 shares in the company, valued at $5,481,229.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 7,271 shares of company stock valued at $1,378,205. Insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in F5 by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $1,415,294,000 after purchasing an additional 29,154 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in F5 by 10.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $294,392,000 after acquiring an additional 162,820 shares during the period. Lyrical Asset Management LP raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 317,263 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $200,994,000 after acquiring an additional 6,010 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of F5 by 6,700.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 848,388 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $146,118,000 after purchasing an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of FFIV opened at $219.24 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.35. The stock has a market cap of $12.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 1-year low of $145.45 and a 1-year high of $221.12.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. F5 had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 19.94%. The business had revenue of $695.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $686.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that F5 will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.