Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective upped by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 0.54% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on FFIV. StockNews.com upgraded F5 from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $237.11.

F5 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ FFIV opened at $263.41 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $238.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $206.52. F5 has a one year low of $159.01 and a one year high of $264.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.44 billion, a PE ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that F5 will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network technology company to buy up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This trade represents a 7.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,475 shares of company stock valued at $775,389 over the last ninety days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FFIV. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in F5 in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of F5 by 49.7% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 241 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

F5 Company Profile

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.