F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Free Report)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $204.00 to $182.00. The stock had previously closed at $182.13, but opened at $162.25. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. F5 shares last traded at $165.96, with a volume of 464,497 shares traded.
Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of F5 from $156.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of F5 from $206.00 to $189.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (down previously from $187.00) on shares of F5 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of F5 from $197.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $185.10.
Insider Transactions at F5
In related news, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total transaction of $89,405.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,594,964.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.85, for a total transaction of $273,832.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,801 shares in the company, valued at $23,002,118.85. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Francis J. Pelzer sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.81, for a total value of $89,405.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 31,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,594,964.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,201 shares of company stock worth $1,908,065. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On F5
Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of F5 by 203.5% during the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 484,516 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $78,052,000 after acquiring an additional 324,886 shares during the last quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Lyrical Asset Management LP now owns 1,145,302 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $204,986,000 after acquiring an additional 317,263 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in F5 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $45,937,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in F5 by 13.3% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,812,095 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $292,001,000 after acquiring an additional 212,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its stake in F5 by 3,545.5% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 172,977 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $27,874,000 after acquiring an additional 168,232 shares during the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
F5 Trading Down 9.2 %
The stock’s 50-day moving average is $187.66 and its 200-day moving average is $176.72. The stock has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.11.
F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The network technology company reported $2.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.88 by $0.03. F5 had a return on equity of 20.81% and a net margin of 16.43%. The business had revenue of $681.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that F5, Inc. will post 9.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
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.