William Blair Has Pessimistic Outlook of F5 Q1 Earnings

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) – Equities research analysts at William Blair lowered their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of F5 in a report released on Tuesday, October 29th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now forecasts that the network technology company will earn $2.55 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $2.71. The consensus estimate for F5’s current full-year earnings is $10.91 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for F5’s Q2 2025 earnings at $2.41 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.84 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $3.12 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $10.92 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $11.86 EPS.

FFIV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley raised 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, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

F5 Trading Down 0.7 %

F5 stock opened at $232.20 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.53 billion, a PE ratio of 24.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 1.06. F5 has a 12 month low of $149.40 and a 12 month high of $250.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $214.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.96.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The business had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in F5 by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,465,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,415,294,000 after purchasing an additional 29,154 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of F5 by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,709,296 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $294,392,000 after buying an additional 162,820 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 835,912 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in F5 by 48.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 652,972 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $111,932,000 after acquiring an additional 214,351 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in F5 by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 625,734 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $118,607,000 after acquiring an additional 77,611 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $217.67, for a total value of $130,602.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,825 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,492,007.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,492,007.75. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,700 shares of company stock worth $1,170,702 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.