F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price Expected to Rise, The Goldman Sachs Group Analyst Says

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) had its target price upped by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $212.00 to $241.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the network technology company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 0.86% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on F5 from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price objective on F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, F5 currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.56.

F5 Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of FFIV opened at $238.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $14.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average is $213.36 and its 200-day moving average is $189.31. F5 has a 12 month low of $149.40 and a 12 month high of $250.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that F5 will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

F5 announced that its board has approved 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at F5

In related news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total value of $163,996.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,083,360. This trade 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In other F5 news, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total transaction of $163,996.21. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,083,360. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total transaction of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,551 shares of company stock valued at $1,334,698 in the last 90 days. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FFIV. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in F5 in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of F5 during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 9,100.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 184 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of F5 in the third quarter worth $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.