F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $250.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $225.00 to $250.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the network technology company’s stock.

FFIV has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays upped their target price on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of FFIV opened at $233.88 on Tuesday. F5 has a 52-week low of $149.40 and a 52-week high of $250.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $214.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.62. The company has a market capitalization of $13.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 20.13% and a return on equity of 20.80%. The business had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that F5 will post 10.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $273,107.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,359,543.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.73, for a total transaction of $98,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,123,221.25. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $273,107.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,359,543.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,700 shares of company stock valued at $1,170,702 in the last three months. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of F5 by 424.1% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 7,604 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after buying an additional 6,153 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in F5 during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,479,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in F5 by 60.7% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,083 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $3,239,000 after acquiring an additional 6,451 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 3.9% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 308,159 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $53,247,000 after purchasing an additional 11,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 195.1% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,170,000 after purchasing an additional 14,541 shares during the last quarter. 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.