F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Reaches New 1-Year High at $216.72

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $216.72 and last traded at $215.89, with a volume of 50401 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $213.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on FFIV shares. StockNews.com downgraded F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays increased their price target on F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of F5 from $167.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of F5 from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $200.89.

F5 Trading Up 1.7 %

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.89. The firm has a market cap of $12.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.06.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The network technology company reported $3.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $695.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $686.06 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.03% and a net margin of 19.94%. F5’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.46 EPS. Analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 10.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.95, for a total value of $249,327.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,885,390.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other F5 news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.95, for a total value of $249,327.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,462 shares in the company, valued at $20,885,390.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,271 shares of company stock valued at $1,378,205. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of F5 in the second quarter worth $66,000. Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its position in F5 by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP now owns 13,681 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $2,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,627 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in F5 by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 3,994 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $688,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in F5 by 1.4% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 45,848 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $7,896,000 after buying an additional 621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 in the second quarter worth approximately $592,000. Institutional investors 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.