F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $267.96 and last traded at $267.74, with a volume of 381906 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $263.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FFIV. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on F5 from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of F5 from $214.00 to $246.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of F5 from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of F5 from $212.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of F5 from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, F5 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $251.25.

F5 Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $16.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $255.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.32.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The network technology company reported $3.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.45 by $0.22. F5 had a return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 20.13%. The company had revenue of $747.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $730.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that F5, Inc. will post 11.01 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan Higginson sold 825 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.77, for a total value of $197,810.25. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,369,407.14. This represents a 7.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.58% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in shares of F5 during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in F5 during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of F5 in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Brown Financial Advisors bought a new stake in shares of F5 in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of F5 by 79.8% during the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 90.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.