F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

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

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com cut F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $210.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lifted their price objective on F5 from $189.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on F5 from $180.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $185.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, F5 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $233.56.

F5 Stock Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $238.95 on Tuesday. F5 has a fifty-two week low of $149.40 and a fifty-two week high of $250.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.31.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $730.43 million. F5 had a net margin of 19.94% and a return on equity of 21.03%. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that F5 will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, October 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network technology company to repurchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.65, for a total value of $201,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,159,066.55. The trade was 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 the SEC website. In other news, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,000 shares of F5 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,159,066.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Dean Fountain sold 851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.71, for a total transaction of $163,996.21. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,083,360. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of F5

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in shares of F5 by 2.9% during the third 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 period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of F5 by 4.9% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in F5 by 0.6% in 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 buying an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of F5 by 6.3% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,185 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $204,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 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.