F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Price Target Raised to $246.00 at Piper Sandler

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its price target raised by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $186.00 to $246.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the network technology company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price target indicates a potential upside of 2.95% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on F5 from $185.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with 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.com, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $233.56.

F5 Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:FFIV opened at $238.95 on Tuesday. F5 has a 12-month low of $149.40 and a 12-month high of $250.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $213.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $189.31.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that F5 will post 10.17 EPS for the current year.

F5 declared that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total value of $273,107.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,359,543.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.35, for a total transaction of $273,107.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,359,543.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total value of $163,996.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,083,360. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,551 shares of company stock valued at $1,334,698 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of F5 by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 2,030 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of F5 by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $233,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in F5 by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,531 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,186,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its position in F5 by 6.3% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in F5 by 0.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,231 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $4,862,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently 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.