F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $250.46 and last traded at $249.24, with a volume of 111775 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $246.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on FFIV shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on F5 from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on F5 from $186.00 to $246.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on F5 from $205.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $233.56.

F5 Trading Up 0.7 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $226.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.05.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $730.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

F5 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, October 28th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network technology company to purchase up to 7.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at F5

In related news, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 1,450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $218.26, for a total value of $316,477.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,122 shares in the company, valued at $26,436,087.72. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total transaction of $197,810.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,369,407.14. The trade was a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,475 shares of company stock valued at $977,039. Corporate insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of F5

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the first quarter worth $274,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of F5 during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,415,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of F5 by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 80,292 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $15,224,000 after buying an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in F5 in the first quarter worth approximately $2,133,000. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in F5 by 25.3% in the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 8,845 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,787 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

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.