F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

F5, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Hold" from the nine research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $282.56.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $320.00 price target on shares of F5 in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of F5 from $269.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $285.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of F5 from $296.00 to $274.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of F5 from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd.

F5 Trading Down 0.6%

F5 stock traded down $1.83 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $284.76. 96,931 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 568,072. The stock has a market cap of $16.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.85 and a beta of 1.00. F5 has a 1-year low of $164.45 and a 1-year high of $313.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $267.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $268.46.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The network technology company reported $3.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $590.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $719.91 million. F5 had a net margin of 20.58% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that F5 will post 11.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at F5

In other F5 news, Director Marianne Budnik sold 1,872 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.72, for a total value of $488,067.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $314,689.04. The trade was a 60.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan Higginson sold 1,272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.69, for a total value of $364,669.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,843,678.11. The trade was a 11.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,091 shares of company stock worth $1,904,004. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On F5

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FFIV. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of F5 by 34,698.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 746,089 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $198,661,000 after buying an additional 743,945 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in F5 during the 4th quarter valued at $171,127,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of F5 by 598.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 425,275 shares of the network technology company's stock valued at $106,944,000 after buying an additional 364,372 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of F5 by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,387,700 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $1,434,583,000 after purchasing an additional 312,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in F5 by 110.4% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 560,493 shares of the network technology company's stock worth $149,242,000 after acquiring an additional 294,050 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.