F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $240.00

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price objective lifted by Royal Bank of Canada from $205.00 to $240.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the network technology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price target on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Down 0.7 %

FFIV opened at $232.20 on Tuesday. F5 has a twelve month low of $149.40 and a twelve month high of $250.46. The company has a market cap of $13.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $214.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.96.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.45 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that F5 will post 10.91 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total transaction of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other F5 news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total transaction of $130,602.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,825 shares in the company, valued at $6,492,007.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,436,087.72. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,700 shares of company stock valued at $1,170,702 over the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the second quarter worth about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in F5 during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in F5 by 9,100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.